Trauma
by Orion9
Summary: Tony struggles with the aftermath of a vicious attack, but is there more to it than meets the eye?
1. Ambushed

Disclaimer: NCIS and all related characters belong to CBS, Donald P. Bellisario and Belisaurius Productions. No profit is being made here.

Category: Gen/Friendship, Hurt/Comfort, Angst

Feedback: Welcomed with open arms! :) Thanks for reading.

A/N: My very first NCIS fic, which kinda kept growing past the original number of chapters that I'd originally planned. Anyway, apologies in advance for any glaring mistakes in canon, location, etc, since exposure to the show has regrettably been minimal. Set after _Missing_, with mild spoilers for _Bête Noire, Dead Man Talking _and_ Missing_. Have only seen till _Dead Man Talking _when I wrote this so any similarity in plot, characters, etc, is purely coincidental and entirely by chance. Last but not least, hugs and thanks to sHoT for the beta! :D

Note: Italics denote either flashbacks or thoughts.

* * *

**Chapter One**

"Hey! Buddy!"

That was all NCIS Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo heard before something hard slammed into his lower back, eliciting a cry of pain and surprise from him. The pain shot up straight to his head, and his knees buckled. Automatically, his hands shot out to cushion his fall but the second blow, right on the heels of the first, scrambled his reactions completely and he fell hard to the ground, his breath whooshing out from him at the force of the impact.

_What the…?_ Dimly, he heard laughter as he rolled to his side, one hand pressed hard against the small of his back. Looking up, he could barely make out the three dark figures surrounding him. It was late and the he realised with a jolt of apprehension that he was totally alone, in a deserted parking lot, with no immediate help in sight.

"My wallet's … in my pocket…" One badly scraped hand held in front of him in a placating manner, Tony tried to sit up, wincing from the stinging pain. Before he could manage the feat, a leg shot out, catching him hard in the stomach and he collapsed once more with a soft moan, curling into a tight ball.

"Well, that's mighty generous of you, DiNozzo," one of the men drawled out in a low, lazy voice that made every hair at the back of Tony's neck stand up. "The wallet would be a nice bonus, doncha think, boys?"

_DiNozzo_. They knew his name.

While the others guffawed in response, Tony felt the cold hand of fear upon his heart as he lay there on the damp, hard ground, suddenly aware that this was no simple mugging. And not for the first time, he cursed the fact that he was currently unarmed. Today had been his day off, and he was just on his way to his car after popping into Callaghan's, his usual bar, for a drink. He hadn't planned on staying past the witching hour but Jack Callaghan, the owner, was a good friend, and time had flown by as they'd talked while Jack tended the bar.

_Of all days to not have any company…_ If Tony had enough breath to do so, he would've laughed aloud at the irony of the entire situation. Earlier in the night, he'd been hit on a couple of times while hanging out at the bar but he hadn't been interested, turning both women down politely, much to Jack's frank amusement and disbelief.

The fact of the matter was, he hadn't been much in the socialising mood ever since the whole incident with Lieutenant Commander Voss, not to mention the one with the waitress cum serial killer from a local Country bar on one of his last cases, but Tony saw no need to share that particular bit of information with Jack. Instead, he'd cheerfully endured all the good-natured ribbing from his friend as a result for acting so completely out of character.

_"You sure you're all right, Kid?" Jack asked incredulously, eyeing his young friend with a frown. If he hadn't seen it for himself, he wouldn't have believed it – Anthony DiNozzo, certified skirt chaser extraordinaire, saying no to a woman's offer to buy him a drink, not once, but twice, all in the same night._

_"Hmmm?" Tearing his gaze from the provocative movement of the woman's hips as she sashayed away from the bar, her invitation still ringing in his ears, Tony met the other man's speculative stare with his patented grin, charming to the end. "Never better, Jack. Now, where were we…?"_

Then again, Tony reflected grimly as he watched the three men loom over him with pure malice in their eyes, it was probably for the best that he was alone. Something told him that these men wouldn't have allowed a simple hitch such as the presence of another to stop them from doing what they were planning to do. In a way, he was glad that he was presently on his own – if someone else had been hurt just for being there with him, he knew he wouldn't have been able to forgive himself, especially if it had been one of his friends.

"What's … this … about?" he managed to croak out from his precarious position on the ground. He pushed the enveloping panic away, trying his best to ignore the throbbing in his head, while the laughter above him gradually tapered to a stop.

Tony eyed the leader with some trepidation, trying to take in the man's appearance at the same time. But it was almost pitch dark in the parking lot and the best the young agent could make out was that the man who had accosted him had short, light hair. But there was no mistaking the fact that he was huge and physically powerful, if all the bulging muscles were any indication.

His eyes flickered to the two men flanking their ringleader and he swallowed hard. Though not as big, they appeared to be in equally good shape, both of them dwarfing his leaner build. Even if the two extra goons weren't there, Tony knew that the chances of him getting the upper hand in this situation were slim to none. _This is not good…_

"Oh, you know what all this is 'bout, DiNozzo," the leader spat out with open contempt, his face hard and cold. "And we're here to give you a lesson, boy – one that you won't forget in a hurry…"

Lesson?

He saw it coming a split second before it happened, but before Tony could scramble out of the way, the man's leg shot out and caught him in the chin. Everything turned dark for a moment. Then consciousness came roaring back as the man bent down and grabbed him by the front of his shirt, hauling him off the ground and slamming him hard against the side of the car.

"Hold 'im up!" At the terse command, the two men came to stand on each side of the dazed agent. Grasping the young man by the arms, the men easily hauled him upright while their leader watched with disdainful eyes, his large hands flexing periodically.

With some effort, Tony lifted his head, his green eyes taking in the fury on the other's face while his mind raced frantically, looking for the answers that he needed but drawing a huge blank. As far as he could tell, he'd never seen this man, or any of his companions, before. The question was: what did they want with him? _Guess I'm gonna find out the hard way…_

"Word has it that you're a real ladykiller, boy," the large man sneered, and Tony could smell the alcohol in his breath. Despite the evidence, however, the man didn't appear to be drunk and for some inexplicable reason, that terrified Tony even more. "Wonder what that brunette beauty of yours thinks about that? You know, the one you were so chummy with a couple of nights ago…"

_A couple of nights ago?_ The only person that fitted the description of 'brunette beauty' was… Kate. He remembered that they'd been trading jokes and insults as he'd walked her to her car, after which he'd got into his and driven straight home. His protective instinct kicking in, Tony's eyes narrowed and his whole body tensed. Despite the pain, he struggled feebly against the men holding him up and snarled, low and angry, "You … go near her, any of you … and I swear I'll…"

"Ooh…hit a nerve there, didn't I?" the man grinned mirthlessly. By now, his face was only mere inches away and Tony tried not to gag in reaction when another blast of the hot, fetid breath hit him. "It just doesn't pay to be friends with you, does it, DiNozzo? Though, if I were you, I'd quit thinkin' 'bout them and start worryin' 'bout what's gonna happen to me first."

_It just doesn't pay…_ Unconsciously flinching at the taunt, Tony tried another desperate plea, "You … don't have to … do this…"

A cruel laugh permeated the cool night air. "Oh, but we do, boy. How else are ya gonna learn to keep your stinkin', filthy hands to yaself…?"

Tony was still trying to sort through that final statement when the first blows landed.

O o O o O o O

A low moan escaped his dry lips as he agonisingly clawed his way to consciousness. His head hurt the most and he was slowly becoming aware of the many aches and twinges emitting from the different parts of his body. _What happened? Was there an accident?_

Eyes flickering open, Tony realised that he was lying on his side, with one thoroughly numbed arm pinned under his aching body. Feeling the cold, damp ground beneath his cheek, the young agent fought off the sudden nausea as the memory of what had happened assailed him.

_"Wait… listen…"_

_The severe cuff to the head dimmed out the world for a moment. "Shut up, pretty boy…" _

_"You've … got … the wrong guy…" Tony tried again, ignoring the pounding ache in his head. _

_"I don't think so, DiNozzo. She said you seduced her…" The words were accompanied by another vicious backhand that snapped his head back and split his bottom lip. The world grew dim once more and he went limp, only to come to when the men on each side of him jerked him back to his feet once more. "She may be a slut, but she's my slut, and no one, let alone a punk like you, is gonna touch her… not while I'm still around!"_

_"What? … No…!" he gasped out desperately, trying to gather his scattered thoughts past the intense pain. It took too much energy to look up and he let his head loll weakly about his shoulders, while he tasted the warmth of his own blood in his mouth. "It … wasn't me…! I–"_

_The hard punch to his midsection doubled him over. The men holding him up grunted and roughly pulled him straight once more, paying no attention to his hiss of pain._

_"I'm telling … you … the truth…" Tony pleaded, winded. He coughed, trying to draw much needed air into his lungs while struggling to keep his dinner from making an impromptu reappearance. _

_"Liar!" _

_Another brutal punch, this time at the vicinity of his right kidney elicited another pained moan from him and he crumpled to the ground when the men on either side of him abruptly let him go._

Turning slowly so that he was now lying on his back, Tony flinched involuntarily at the memory of each blow. As soon as he was down, the three men had taken turns kicking him. He didn't remember much after curling up to weather the first few – the very last thing that he saw before everything went dark was a heavy black boot heading towards the vicinity of his head. Judging from how he was feeling, it was apparent that whether he was conscious or not hadn't made much of a difference to the men. He just hoped that they hadn't broken anything that time couldn't heal.

Looking up at the dark night sky, Tony listlessly wondered what time it was. His watch was gone and as he slowly went through his pockets, he found that his wallet and cell phone were missing as well. A soft sigh escaped him when his hands came into contact with his car keys. He closed his eyes in relief. _At least he had one less thing to worry about…_

Belatedly, he became aware of the shivers that currently wracked his injured body. It hurt to breathe, and from the dull ache enveloping his sides, he knew that his ribs were severely bruised, broken even. Lifting his hand, he tentatively touched his forehead, wincing at the pain as his trembling fingers came into contact with the gash there. Tony looked dully at the blood currently staining the tips of his fingers. It was odd but all he could think of at this point in time was that Gibbs was going to be so pissed with him if he got into work late tomorrow.

That single thought spurred him into action, and he gingerly pushed himself into a sitting position, teeth clenched hard, nearly blacking out when the pain flared up once more at each agonising movement. Gasping, he leaned against the side of the car. With some effort, he again fought off the urge to throw up, taking slow, deep breaths until the excruciating ache in his head and sides tapered off into a dull throb. The soothing night sounds surrounding him began to slowly fade away as his eyes closed on their own accord.

"Tony?"

At the soft call, Tony jerked awake, the abrupt movement causing a choked cry of pain to slip past his split lips. Instinctively cringing back against the car door, he blinked up at the concerned face looking down at him. Recognition came to him after the first few indistinct seconds.

"Jack…?"

"Yeah, Tony, it's me," Jack murmured as he crouched beside the injured man, slowly feeling him over. He was horrified at the sight of his young friend's battered and bloodied face. Where was all that blood coming from? "What happened? Who did this to you?"

"Got … j-jumped… Three m-men…" Tony managed to rasp out between clenched teeth. While Jack's ministrations were featherlike, it was all he could do to stop from groaning out loud at the sharp pain that each contact triggered.

"You got mugged?"

"No… Y-Yes… It w-was … a misunderstanding…"

"You sure that the people who did this were aware of that?" Callaghan asked incredulously as he gently got the groaning man to his feet. "C'mon, Kid, let's get you to the hospital…"

O o O o O o O

"How is he?" Jack asked as soon as the doctor drew near. It had been almost three hours since Tony was wheeled away by the emergency medical staff, leaving him standing rather bemusedly in the waiting room.

"Well, apart from the numerous abrasions and contusions, he has a concussion, two broken ribs and three other badly bruised ones," Dr Shaun Gallagher replied, his hands pulling at the stethoscope hanging from his neck. "Given his injuries, I'd say that Mr DiNozzo's one very lucky young man – things could've been worse if one of those broken ribs had punctured his lungs."

"There was so much blood…"

"Yes, unfortunately, head wounds do tend to bleed a lot. The deep gash on his forehead required ten stitches," Gallagher said, letting go of the stethoscope and sticking his hands into his coat pockets. "He'll be very sore for the next few days so he needs to take things easy for a while, at least until his ribs have healed somewhat…"

Tony? Taking things easy? Jack almost snorted out loud. He'd have to talk to Jethro about that – for as far as he could tell, Tony's superior was the only person that the young agent would listen to without too much argument. A small frown creased his forehead as he recalled Tony's frantic plea in the car.

_"Please, Jack…"_

_"I dunno, Tony, you can't keep this thing from Gibbs forever, you know, even if you wanted to," Jack shook his head, even as he wondered about the slight, but undeniable, panicked undertone in the younger man's ragged voice. "Not with those bruises you're gonna be sporting."_

_"I-I… know," Tony answered, his teeth chattering slightly and Jack could tell that he was beginning to go into shock. "But n-not tonight, d-don't call tonight. It's already so late. I'll… I'll t-tell … h-him … t-them, t-tomorrow."_

_Jack glanced over at his injured passenger, taking in the unhealthy pallor of his face and the way his arms were wrapped around his ribs underneath the coat that covered his body. Tony had refused to lie down in the back seat, stating that it hurt more to breathe when he did so._

_Inwardly, Jack shook his head. Whatever took place earlier, it must have been really unpleasant for Tony to want to keep it so badly from his team leader. Then again, knowing how much Tony admired and looked up to Gibbs, perhaps what happened was something that the young man felt Gibbs wouldn't have approved of. Jack had tried asking but all Tony would say was that it was all a bad misunderstanding, and had steadfastly refused to elaborate any further after that._

_"J-Jack…?"_

_He puffed out a breath and then nodded his agreement, knowing instinctively that he was going to regret giving in to the demand, especially when Jethro found out about it. "All right, Tony. But if you don't call them by tomorrow, I will."_

_Tony gave a small sigh and closed his eyes, tilting his head back against the headrest. "Deal… T-Thanks, Jack…"_

"Mr Callaghan?" Dr Gallagher's voice brought him to the present and Jack quickly pushed the nagging worries to the back of his mind.

"Sorry … wool gathering…" he apologised with a slight smile. "So, when can I take him home?"

"Not tonight, I'm afraid," Gallagher shook his head. "Because of the concussion, I'd like to keep him here under observation for a day or two. If everything goes well, he should be discharged then."

"Can I see him?"

Gallagher hesitated briefly and then nodded. "But only for a short while. He's heavily sedated at the moment so he'll probably won't know you're there."

Jack heaved a soft sigh. "That's okay. I just need to see him with my own eyes."

"I understand," the doctor flashed him a reassuring smile. "Room 8B, just down the hall on your right."

"Thanks, Doc."

O o O o O o O

Watching the gentle rise and fall of Tony's chest, Jack Callaghan wondered if he'd ever seen his friend looking so fragile or vulnerable. Right now, pale except for the dark circles under his eyes, Tony looked even younger than ever, the fine lines on his face smoothed away by sleep. The bruises on whatever skin not covered by the bandages or the hospital gown were beginning to show, and Jack winced in empathic pain as he quickly catalogued Tony's injuries.

Leaning over to brush aside a lock of hair that had fallen over the young agent's forehead, Jack sucked in a sharp breath at the darkening bruise surrounding Tony's right eye. _That's definitely going to be one heck of a shiner, my friend._

"Rest well, Kid. I'll see you tomorrow… " After one last look at the slumbering man, Jack Callaghan turned and left the room, closing the door softly behind him.


	2. Denial

**Chapter Two**

"Well?" Leroy Jethro Gibbs demanded with a glare as soon as Special Agent Kate Todd hung up the phone. His usual cup of coffee was gripped firmly in one hand. "Where is he?"

With an exasperated sigh, Kate turned towards her team leader but quickly bit back her retort when she caught the flicker of concern in Gibbs' light blue eyes. A man like Gibbs did not trouble easily, but when he did, she knew it was a good time as any to start worrying.

"I don't know. I got his machine at home and the voicemail on his cell," she answered, chewing on her bottom lip. "This isn't like Tony at all…"

"No, it isn't," Gibbs agreed in a vaguely distracted tone, glancing once more at the clock. DiNozzo was late, extremely so, even by his normal standards, and he knew that it was not like the young agent to not show up for work like this, especially not without calling in with some kind of explanation.

"Should we go look for him?" Special Agent Timothy McGee ventured hesitatingly, looking from one agent to the other.

"Give him another couple of hours or so…" Gibbs responded, turning back to the papers on his desk. "He'd better have a damn good reason for this when he decides to show up…" he muttered darkly to no one in particular.

Kate eyed the senior agent who was now glowering at the report he was studying, easily reading the anxiety buried beneath his gruff words. Gibbs might be hard on Tony most of the time, but she knew that he liked the young agent, and although he wouldn't admit to it even under the threat of death, it was in all likelihood that Gibbs saw Tony as an incorrigible younger brother.

Not that liking Tony was something very hard to do, Kate acknowledged silently to herself, for all his flirtatiousness and occasional flippant manner, Anthony DiNozzo was overall a very amiable guy, one who got along easily with basically anyone he met, in addition to being a first-rate agent. She just hoped that his innate friendliness and flirtatious disposition had not backfired on him this time.

O o O o O o O

The nurse paused a moment to study the sleeping patient, her head cocked ever so slightly to one side. Even with the multiple bruises colouring his pale face, she could tell that beneath all that swelling was a handsome young man, and she wondered fleetingly if he was alone in this world. Since he was admitted last night, except for the man who'd brought him in, no one else had called in to enquire about the young patient or to pay him a visit.

Just as she was making the final adjustments to his IV, he stirred slightly, and she could see that he was about to wake up. True enough, his long lashes fluttered a few seconds later and he cracked open his eyes to focus blearily on her.

"Kate…?" The voice was a barely discernible croak.

_Ah, good, so there is someone…_ Pleased by the discovery, Anne Lyndon bent her dark head lower to address the still groggy man, "No, sorry, honey. I'm Anne. I'm a nurse here."

"Anne…" Tony repeated blankly. _Who?_

"Let me get the doctor, he'll explain everything," Lyndon murmured softly before disappearing out the door, leaving the bewildered agent behind.

_Doctor?_ Glancing fuzzily around the room, Tony realised that he was currently in the hospital. He closed his eyes against the nausea, wincing as the memories of what happened last night slowly came back to him. _How am I going to explain this to Gibbs? And Kate… Kate would probably have a field day with this…_

_Forget it, I can't take it._ That was his answer to Kate's question after the incident with the Lieutenant Commander before he'd all but fled the bullpen to hide the effect of it from the rest of the team. He might not have shown any other visible reaction besides pained exasperation but the barb – 'What was it like, tonguing a guy?' – had stung. Bad. In fact, he'd been caught fairly off guard by the intensity of the hurt that had engulfed him at the time.

The sound of footsteps drew him from his dark thoughts and Tony opened his eyes to see a tall, middle-aged man, with greying dark brown hair, walk through the door. He had a doctor's white overcoat over his clothes with a stethoscope sticking out from one of the pockets.

"Good morning, Mr DiNozzo. I'm Doctor Gallagher. Glad to see that you're finally awake."

"Tony… Call me Tony…"

Gallagher smiled at his patient. "All right, Tony. How are you feeling?" he asked while he quickly checked DiNozzo's eyes and reflexes. Replacing the penlight back into his pocket after he was done, the doctor returned the man's solemn look.

"Fine, I guess… Headache… a lil' nauseous…" Tony finally rasped. He moved slightly and hissed out a ragged breath when his body gave him a rude reminder of what took place last night. "Sore…"

"As expected, given the circumstances. Your headache and nausea are due to your concussion," Gallagher explained and quickly filled Tony in on the rest of his injuries and the plans to keep him in the hospital until the next day. "Would you like me to call anyone for you?"

At that, Tony broke eye contact and looked away while his fingers plucked nervously at the bed sheet. "No… no, that's okay. Where's Jack?"

"Mr Callaghan?" At Tony's small nod of confirmation, Gallagher continued, "He just left to get something to eat. He's been here since eight."

A flash of guilt hit Tony at that revelation just as another thought occurred to him. "Since eight? What time is it now?" he asked, green eyes wide.

The doctor took a quick peek at his watch. "Almost eleven," he answered, growing steadily alarmed when the young man's face went even whiter. "What is it? What's wrong?"

Tony swallowed and looked away, towards the window. "Nothing, Doc. Just some work stuff…" he mumbled, eyes downcast. After a few seconds, he puffed out a breath and turned towards the older man, "Could I make a call?"

O o O o O o O

"Special Agent Todd," Kate spoke into the telephone. "Tony? Where the h–" Her eyes widened. "What?! You're where…? What happened? Are you okay?"

Gibbs frowned as he listened to the one-sided conversation. He'd been away from his desk, with his hands full of case files, when the phone rang so he'd motioned to Kate to pick it up. The flash of relief that he'd felt when Kate had spoken out Tony's name had first been replaced by irritation, but unease had quickly taken over, especially when Kate suddenly went pale. He caught her eyes as he drew nearer his desk but Kate just shook her head at him while she spoke quickly into the telephone once more.

"How bad? … That's good to know. … Yeah, we'll be right there." Hanging up, Kate turned towards Gibbs, her face white. "Tony's in the hospital. He got mugged last night."

But Gibbs was already on Kate's extension, his face turned away from her as he spoke quietly to one of the other two remaining members of his team. "Hang on," he said, and looked up at Kate. "Where?"

Kate told him, and he repeated the name of the hospital into the telephone. "Yeah, we're on our way now." A brief pause. "No, no… Listen to me, Ducky. I need you and Abby to finish up the on Kellerman case first. And get McGee to start on the Corporal Alexander's phone records when he gets back… Yeah, I'll let the both of you know as soon as we get the rest of the details."

Finishing the call, he hung up, grabbed his coat and strode out of the bullpen, with Kate right behind him.

O o O o O o O

"Heard that you finally decided to join the land of the living, Kid…"

The gruff voice roused Tony out of his light doze and he opened his eyes to see his rescuer from last night approaching his bed. "Hey, Jack," he greeted the tall, lean Irishman softly with a drowsy smile, suddenly very glad to see a familiar face.

"How are you holding up?" Jack Callaghan asked as he drew nearer. He shook his head with an emphatic wince at the damage revealed by the light of day. The gash on his forehead and dark bruises on his face looked even worse up close. "You look like crap, Tony…"

"Feel like it too," the younger man agreed with a tired sigh. He looked down at his bandaged hands. "Thanks for taking care of things for me."

"You're welcome, Kid, although I must say you scared ten years off me when I found you on the ground like that," Jack said grumpily as he dropped into the chair beside Tony's bed.

The smile that he was aiming for appeared momentarily on the battered face. "Sorry, Jack. I'll try not to do that again."

"See that you don't, DiNozzo, or else I'm gonna have to start charging you hazard fee…" the older man retorted with a wink.

"Sure, Jack," Tony chuckled lightly and then clutched at his ribs with a wince. "Please, don't make me laugh."

"Sorry. Called the office yet?"

"Yeah, I've talked to Kate…" Tony stopped, a frown quickly replacing the slight grin on his face. "Well, actually, I called Gibbs' extension but Kate answered…"

"And…?"

"Hmm? Oh, I think that they're on their way here…" the injured man trailed off, suddenly unsure of how to proceed.

The pregnant pause did not go unnoticed by the ex-police detective turned bar owner. Nor did he miss the sudden haunted look in the young agent's green eyes. "Tony?"

The expressive eyes in question met his and were immediately shuttered. "Yeah?"

Jack sighed inwardly at the wary tone. This was going to be harder than he thought. That particular look in Tony's eyes just now, a mixture of defeat and apprehension, did not sit well with him – it was distinctly out of place with the person he knew his young friend to be. Deciding that the direct approach was the best way to go, he asked softly, "What happened last night, Kid?"

"I've already told you in the car … three men jumped me in the parking lot. Got away with my watch, wallet and cell."

"And the reason that they tried to beat the living daylights out of you would be…?"

Tony lifted his shoulders slightly in what Jack interpreted to be a shrug of indifference. "They thought I was someone else…"

"So you said last night…"

There wasn't a single expression on Tony's face or inflection in his voice when he finally answered – not that it would've made much of a difference if there were – Callaghan got the 'Leave me alone, I don't want to talk about it' message as clearly as if Tony had said it aloud.

"Yeah, Jack, so I did."

O o O o O o O

"Hello, Jethro."

"Jack!" Gibbs took the proffered hand and returned the firm handshake. He indicated the young agent standing beside him. "Jack Callaghan, this is Kate Todd. Kate, meet one of the best homicide detectives this side of the country."

"Ex-homicide detective, please," Jack chuckled softly. "I'm retired, remember?" With that, he turned towards the beautiful brunette and shook her hand. "A pleasure to meet you, Special Agent Todd. Congratulations on making the team." He slid the older agent a glance. "I hear Jethro here only works with the very best."

_Oh, really?_ Despite her worry for Tony, Kate was amused when Gibbs met her questioning look with a raised eyebrow, as if daring her to discuss it further. Making a mental note to do so in the next opportune moment, she grinned at Jack. "Thank you, Mr Callaghan. It's nice to meet you too. And please, call me Kate."

Jack returned her smile with one of his own. "Only if you would call me Jack."

"You brought Tony in?" Gibbs spoke up quietly, promptly bringing to mind the reason they were currently having a conversation in the middle of a hospital corridor.

His faint smile fading, Jack gave younger man a terse nod. "He just dropped off to sleep." There was fleeting pause before he elaborated, his grey eyes dark with worry, "Pain meds. The doctor said he'd probably be quite groggy as long as he's on them."

Gibbs glanced a moment at the closed door a few feet away from where they were standing. The two of them had been heading for it when Callaghan had called out to him. He turned his attention back to his old friend. "What happened, Jack?"

Callaghan shook his head. "I don't have all the details… Only Tony can answer that question and he's not talking … much. I found him out cold in the parking lot last night after closing up the bar…" His expression hardened. "Even in the dark I could tell that they roughed him up pretty badly."

Kate's eyes widened at the last bit and she glanced worriedly at Gibbs. His clear blue eyes had turned icy with silent rage and she pitied the poor souls who had inadvertently incurred the wrath of this man. But only for a hundredth of a second. The truth was, she couldn't wait for Gibbs to catch up with the people who did this – they more than deserved everything that they were going to get. The severity of the act notwithstanding, Kate knew that no one messed with a member of Gibbs' team without suffering the repercussions, not if he had anything to say about it.

She only had to look back to the time where the NCIS Medical Examiner, his assistant, and herself had been taken hostage by a man who'd gained access to Autopsy to retrieve a smallpox virus that a dead terrorist had left behind with the rest of his possessions. Since that night, Gibbs had been like man obsessed, and his ongoing search for the unidentified intruder had been both relentless and methodical.

_"I feel sorry for whatever his name is," Tony muttered as they trailed behind Gibbs, on their way towards the men's room to investigate the death of Petty Officer First Class Chris Gordon._

_"Sorry?" she turned a quizzical look towards her smirking partner._

_"Yeah," Tony replied, almost contemplatively. "I wouldn't want Gibbs on my ass."_

_"We're never gonna see that guy again," she responded with a shake of her head._

_"Maybe not. But Gibbs will," Tony shot back, in a tone so confident that it'd immediately removed whatever lingering doubts she had. _

"Last night?" Gibbs was saying when Kate turned her attention back to the conversation at hand. His frown deepened when the other man nodded. "And you waited until this morning? Dammit, Jack, you should have called. Immediately!"

Callaghan was unperturbed by the sudden heated outburst – he'd been friends with Jethro Gibbs long enough to know that the younger man's anger stemmed from a deep concern that he had for their mutual friend. "It wasn't my call to make," he answered evenly.

The forbidding expression on Gibbs' face never changed. "Explain," he commanded grimly.

Jack sighed and ran a tired hand through his graying hair. "Tony asked me not to, and that he be the one to tell you… today," he finished, stressing lightly on the last word.

"Why?" Kate asked, confused.

"I haven't a clue," Jack confessed. "I hate to say this but he's been pretty quiet, uncharacteristically so, I might add." He looked at Kate. "He told me he talked to you. What did he say?"

"That he was mugged."

Gibbs' eyes narrowed. "It wasn't any normal mugging, was it?"

"I highly doubt that it was even a mugging in the first place," Jack countered matter-of-factly.

The frown that creased Gibbs' forehead deepened. "What did he tell you?"

"That he was jumped by three men, and the beating was due to a misunderstanding," Jack said, his skepticism obvious on his craggy face. "They took his watch, wallet and cell phone, but left his car keys behind."

"A misunderstanding?" Gibbs echoed, zooming in on the word. "Did he say what kind?"

"Yeah," Jack answered. "He said they thought he was someone else…"

"You believe him?"

Jack met Gibbs' steady gaze and grimaced. "Not for a damned moment."

* * *

A/N: Thank you all so much for your wonderful and encouraging reviews. They just about made my entire week. To answer your question, Becky – yes, the story is finished, sans some minor fine-tuning here and there – just waiting for each chapter to be betaed first before I can post them (kinda cheated with the first one though, but that has been remedied… :D) and I'll do my best to update as quickly and as often as possible. Thanks for reading! 


	3. Admissions

Disclaimer: NCIS and all related characters belong to CBS, Donald P. Bellisario and Belisaurius Productions.

* * *

**Chapter Three**

"You just couldn't take a simple day off without getting into trouble, could you, DiNozzo?"

Blinking awake at the sound of the voice, Tony returned Gibbs' mock glare with a strained smile. "I guess not, Boss." He caught sight of the other person with Gibbs and flashed the ex-Secret Service agent a ghost of his usual charming grin. "Hey, Kate."

Quickly concealing her shock at the sight of her partner's beaten face, Kate said softly, "Hi, Tony. How are you doing?"

"Fine, I guess. A little sore…" Tony gave a light shrug. He favoured her with a bright smile that, to one observant enough, would notice that it somehow didn't quite reach the green depths of his eyes. "Wanna kiss and make them all better?"

Kate couldn't stop the light laugh from escaping even as she rolled her eyes and shot her injured partner an exasperated look. It was a relief to know that he was going to be all right, despite the fact that he looked like someone ran over him with a car. Repeatedly. Sobering, she quietly took in the extent of her fellow agent's injuries. Contrasting wildly with the purple bruise covering one side of his face was the white bandage above his right eye that was almost swollen shut. That, coupled with the dark circles under both eyes and the split, puffy lip, gave Tony a particularly vulnerable look, one very seldom worn by the normally brash, outgoing agent.

Propped up in a semi-reclining position by the angle of the bed and several pillows, Tony shifted uncomfortably at the scrutiny. He was hoping that by putting on a cheerful front, he'd be able to get this meeting over and done with before any of them started asking questions that he would rather not answer at the moment.

"DiNozzo, you look like–"

"–crap," Tony finished with a grimace, privately glad for the timely diversion when Kate turned towards Gibbs to give him a mild look of censure, who in return simply ignored it. "I know, Boss. Jack already made that very clear a few hours ago… Where is he?"

"Home," came the succinct reply as Gibbs made himself comfortable on one of the two chairs present in the room, with Kate taking the other. "He's working the bar tonight."

"Oh. What time is it?"

The senior agent glanced at his watch. "Nearing seven. You've been in and out for almost six hours now."

Tony sighed. "They kept waking me up every other hour and then asking me to go back to sleep…"

"Standard concussion procedure," Kate smiled at the sleepy disgruntled look on her partner's face. In spite of the ugly discoloration and cuts on his face, in his adorably rumpled state, Tony reminded her of a small sulky boy who'd just been woken up from a nap.

"Yeah, but they didn't have to be so enthusiastic about it."

Kate laughed but Gibbs showed no other reaction except a small wry smile. Keeping a wary eye on his team leader, Tony had a sinking feeling that the unwelcome interrogation was about to start and mentally braced himself for it.

"What happened, DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked without preamble and Tony was hard pressed to retain his neutral expression as the intense blue eyes bored into him.

"Got mugged by three men," he ultimately replied with a shrug.

"And that's it?"

"Yep, that's it," Tony said carefully, meeting the older man's speculative gaze for a short intense moment before looking away. With some effort, he forced his hands that were resting on the bed to unclench. _Please, Gibbs, let it go._

Either his mental, and physical, pleas weren't strong or obvious enough, or Gibbs was purposely ignoring them because he didn't even take his eyes off Tony when he called out to the second newest member of his team. "Kate…?"

"Hmmm?"

"Why don't you go and get some dinner," Gibbs said quietly, without turning his head, his tone rendering his words more into a command rather than a request. "And please give Ducky and Abby an update on Tony on your way to the cafeteria."

_Dinner? _Kate blinked, temporarily surprised. _An update?_ Gibbs had already done that, almost five hours ago, when he'd called and filled the ME in on the injuries that Tony had sustained in the beating and the doctor's diagnosis and recommendations. Frowning, Kate was about to voice her confusion when she caught sight of the expression on Gibbs' face and quickly closed her mouth. She flashed Tony a smile instead as she stood up. "I'll be right back, okay?"

The injured man nodded tiredly, resigned to the inevitable. With Kate gone, there'd be no holding Gibbs back, especially since he was determined to get to the bottom of things. In a way, Tony was grateful that Gibbs had decided to send Kate away. As it was, he was barely holding on to the façade that he'd been wearing since the incident last night and he didn't know if he could do it any longer in the presence of a well-meaning friend, let alone two.

Especially well-meaning friends who were determined to find out what took place last night. Not for the first time since the attack, Tony wished that he was a certified loner with no friends to speak of whatsoever. Silently, both men watched as Kate headed for the door.

"Oh, and Kate?"

Her hand on the door handle, the young woman turned inquiringly towards Gibbs.

"Don't forget the coffee on your way back."

O o O o O o O

The door closed with a soft click behind Kate and Tony darted a quick look at the man sitting quietly on the chair next to his bed. As usual, Gibbs' face was inscrutable, but Tony could tell that he wasn't at all pleased with the answers that he received just now. He might have been able to field off Jack's questions but Tony knew that it was only a matter of time before Gibbs dug the whole story out from him. What would be the outcome then? Would Gibbs even believe him?

Studying the young man lying silent and drawn on the hospital bed while he studiously avoided his gaze, Gibbs was glad that Tony had been asleep three hours ago when he'd first looked in on him. His initial alarm at Tony's condition had promptly been replaced by anger and now Gibbs speculated mildly on the reasons for DiNozzo's uncharacteristically somber manner. It was so unlike the exuberant, sometimes mischievous, agent he knew that Gibbs felt an unwelcome pang of genuine worry, the first one since they'd talked to the doctor and found out that Tony was going to be all right after some rest. _What exactly happened last night, DiNozzo?_

The silence stretched on for the next few minutes while the men each retreated into their own thoughts. Gibbs was the first to speak, immediately drawing Tony away from his own dark ruminations.

"Well…?"

With an inward grimace, Tony cursed the older agent's ability to put so much into such a small, insignificant word. It wasn't fair – no one should be able to convey that much of a meaning into a single utterance.

"Boss…?" he asked in his best innocent voice, feigning complete ignorance. Getting a blistering glare in return, Tony winced inwardly and broke eye contact with a soft puff of breath. "Could we just leave what happened alone?"

"Nope, no can do."

"Why not?"

"Because."

"That's not even an answer!" Tony protested with a frown when Gibbs failed to continue past that single worded reply. He eventually gave up trying to glare a response out of Gibbs when all he got for his efforts was a completely bland look from the other man.

"Besides, it was nothing," the younger agent mumbled stonily after a brief uncomfortable silence, casting all pretense of cheerfulness aside as he fixed his gaze upon the white ceiling above him. "Just a small misunderstanding between some guys..."

"So you keep saying, although I hear the phrase you originally used was 'a bad misunderstanding'."

"What?" Tony shot a startled glance at the older agent before realisation dawned. "Oh, Jack…"

"Yep…" Gibbs confirmed Tony's guess as he leaned back in his chair, stretching his long legs out before him. "So, do you want to tell me the truth now or am I going to have to sit here until you do?"

Tony had started to chew onto his bottom lip before he remembered the injury he'd suffered there. "Oww… dammit!" Cursing fervently beneath his breath, Tony briefly squeezed his eyes closed at the painful reminder while tears threatened.

When the pain slowly subsided, he turned to meet Gibbs' impassive gaze and decided that it was pointless for him to delay any longer. Knowing Gibbs, the senior agent would probably make good on that threat of his to remain by his bedside until he found out what actually happened and Tony didn't know if he could stand the questioning gaze any longer.

"I didn't even hear them – they must've been waiting somewhere near the car…" he began, so softly that Gibbs had to lean forward to catch every word. "At first, I thought they were after my wallet, so I offered it to them." His eyes rested on Gibbs' face for a moment and flickered away. Unconsciously, his hands fisted. "It turned out that they were there to give me a quick lesson on keeping my hands to myself," he continued tonelessly.

Still Gibbs said nothing. Tony took a deep breath and blew it out, his gaze now permanently fixed upon a spot on the adjacent wall – he didn't want to see the disbelief or worse, the disgust and disillusionment, in the other man's eyes – and forced himself to finish the story.

"Apparently, according to the big guy, I seduced his girlfriend while he was out of town last month…" Tony trailed off for a second and then blurted out, his green eyes boring earnestly into Gibbs', "It wasn't me, Boss, I swear. I never heard of the girl before, let alone touch her!"

"Okay."

"I– What?" Stopping in surprise at the simple indication of acceptance, Tony stared nonplussed at Gibbs, his mouth hanging open. "You believe me?"

Gibbs shook his head in exasperation. For an exceptionally streetwise NCIS agent, Tony could be frustratingly dense at times. "Of course I believe you, you dolt. Why wouldn't I?"

At that, Tony flushed and he quickly looked away. Gibbs took a deep breath and leaned back into his chair, rubbing a hand across his neck. "Is that why you refused to tell anyone what happened? Because you thought that no one would believe you?"

Tony's thick-lashed eyes were shuttered but Gibbs knew that he'd guessed right when the young man's face immediately lost all colour. If possible, he was even paler than before.

"DiNozzo?" he prompted softly.

"When they first accused me of it, I wasn't even sure that I didn't do what they said I did." He looked up then, meeting the older man's gaze, his anguish apparent. "Don't you see, Gibbs? Even I couldn't tell at first whether I was innocent or not."

Gibbs raised an eyebrow. "Well, I doubt you would go after another man's woman intentionally. Especially if you knew she was attached."

Once more, his friend's simple show of faith rendered Tony speechless. He blinked bemusedly at Gibbs for a moment and then cleared his throat awkwardly. "Thanks, Boss," he said, eyes suspiciously bright. "Well, uh… when they told me when I supposedly had the encounter with her, I knew that it couldn't have been me since I kinda stopped … err …"

"Making friends?" Gibbs supplied helpfully.

Tony grimaced slightly at Gibbs' choice of words but nodded. "Roughly a few days before the supposed incident." He sighed, running an unsteady hand through his already mussed hair. "I tried telling them that they had the wrong guy but they wouldn't even listen."

Gibbs frowned. "So they called you by name?"

"Just the leader. The other two mostly laughed … and kicked … hard," Tony added, almost as an afterthought.

"Did any of the men look familiar?"

"No," the infirmed agent murmured, suddenly feeling thoroughly drained, now that everything was out in the open. Wincing as the aches from the various parts of his body began to reintroduce themselves to him with more vehemence than he liked, Tony squeezed his eyes shut against the exhaustion and a developing headache. "Never saw any of them before."

Gibbs stood up and gave Tony a light pat on the shoulder. "Get some sleep, DiNozzo. I'll see you in a bit."

Tony mumbled an affirmation as he settled himself more comfortably on the bed, his eyes already closing. The senior agent was almost at the door when the drowsy voice floated over. "What are you … gonna do, Gibbs?"

There was a glint in Gibbs' eyes when he answered, "To see if Abby can pull some pictures of your new but not-so-friendly acquaintances."

"Pictures? How?" Tony squinted at Gibbs, eyes barely open. Normally, he wouldn't have any trouble following the older man's line of thought, especially when it came to an investigation, but at present, it was all he could do to stay awake.

"Surveillance cameras," Gibbs replied, biting back a smile as he watched Tony fight a losing battle with sleep. "Now, rest."

"Sure, Boss." With a soft sigh, Tony at last allowed himself to drift and was asleep almost immediately, missing both the mildly exasperated expression on the other man's face and the fond smile that curved his lips slightly.

* * *

A/N: I'm completely humbled and awed by the response that this story has received so far. Thank you to all you wonderful people for your fantastic reviews and comments. Hope the rest of the story wouldn't disappoint. :) 


	4. Diagnosis

**Chapter Four**

It took some convincing from his friends, along with several not-so-subtle hints from Gibbs, but Tony ultimately agreed, albeit somewhat reluctantly, to make a police report of the assault. He never said a word, but those close to him could tell that Tony was extremely glad to be back at work after a week of forced leave although, in the beginning, he was mostly stuck in the office because of his healing ribs while Gibbs and Kate did all of the legwork. He was a little thinner and somehow quieter, and for the first few days of his return, the recovering agent almost never looked up from the pile of work that seemed to have taken over his desk.

However, Kate began to worry when the first week passed and Tony still remained unusually subdued. She didn't think that it was possible but she really missed their usual friendly banter, barbs included, while they investigated cases. It looked like Gibbs was beginning to have similar thoughts, if the sideways glance that he'd given Tony this morning while they were out investigating a dead marine was anything to go by. Catching Gibbs' questioning look, she could only shrug her ignorance in reply.

Now, watching Tony surreptitiously from her desk while he pored over the reports at his, Kate wondered if he was still uncomfortable with what took place a little more than two weeks ago. Gibbs had filled them in on what happened, and she was ashamed to admit to herself that, if Tony had opened up to her first instead of Gibbs, a small part of her would probably have jumped to the conclusion that, though not intentionally, her partner may have finally fooled around with the wrong woman. Given Tony's penchant for the ladies, who would blame her if she had?

But Gibbs obviously knew Tony – after two years as his boss – and the kind of man that he was, despite the everyday front presented to them. It was something that she was slowly discovering for herself, and Gibbs' unwavering conviction in Tony had helped her to view her fellow agent in a completely different light altogether. In some indefinable way, one that she had been unable to explain, Tony's brief moment of vulnerability in the hospital haunted her, and Kate suddenly realised that beneath that flippant, easygoing manner that he'd adopted, along with his inherent boyish charm and good looks, there was definitely more to the man that he'd allowed the rest of the world to see.

"Tony?"

Looking up at the soft call, Tony met Kate's eyes across the room, the fading bruises on his face showing up clearly in the stark lighting of the office. "Yeah?"

"You all right?"

"I'm fine, Kate… Nothing a lil' loving won't cure," he replied with a wink, flashing her one of his patented megawatt grins. He didn't wait for her comeback, immediately dropping his gaze and turning back to his work instead, but not before she noticed that the smile didn't exactly reach his eyes. With a start, Kate realised that he'd been doing quite a bit of that ever since his return from the hospital.

And despite the fact that he'd been back almost fourteen days now, Tony still looked worn out and a little rough around the edges at times, the dark circles under his eyes only serving to emphasise his obvious weight loss. Kate could tell that something was wrong, especially when he turned down the invitation to join the rest of the team for drinks after work. Twice. But try as she might, she had been unable to get anything off him save the usual 'I'm fine' routine.

Quietly she pushed back her chair and stood up. Perhaps a visit to the lab might help clear up some things.

O o O o O o O

"Abby?"

"Hey, Kate." NCIS forensics specialist Abigail Sciuto looked up from the microscope and greeted the older woman with a cheerful smile. "The tox screen from the Miller case just came back from trace. I was right. That man was seriously tripping on acid…"

"Acid?"

"Lysergic acid diethylamide…?" Abby waved her hand around expressively, the action causing her twin ponytails to swing madly about her shoulders.

"LSD?" Kate asked of the common hallucinogen drug that produces delusions and visual hallucinations when taken in a large enough dose and got an animated nod in return. "That certainly explains why he was trying to get from the roof of one building to the other the hard way…"

"With a single bound," Abby grinned, imitating a flying motion à la Superman, before leaning back against the table. "Apparently, Lance Corporal Miller must've thought he could fly or something because there was no way any normal human being would've been able to make that impossible jump, not without any help."

Kate accepted the report and studied it for a moment. "Thanks, Abby. I'll pass this to Gibbs when he gets back," she paused, unsure of how to broach the other reason she had for being there. Taking a deep breath, Kate called out hesitantly, "Hey… Abby?"

"Hmmm?" came the distracted reply. The younger woman had already returned to her work, her concentration wholly focused on the slides under her microscope.

"Have you noticed anything different about Tony lately?"

Straightening up at the question, Abby turned and faced Kate once more, her usual cheerfulness muted by concern. "Yeah, the moment Ducky and I visited him in the hospital the day after the attack. He's, well…" she paused, frowning, while she searched for the right words. "I dunno … blue, somehow, behind his usual bad jokes and all."

"This morning, in the field when we were processing that Walters case? He hardly said a word…"

"What? No wisecracks?" Abby gaped, eyes wide. "Tony? Our Tony?"

Kate shook her head. "And he barely even looked at the witness we were interviewing, and she was blatantly flirting with him the whole time," she finished, her face darkening slightly at the memory.

"That bad, huh?"

"Yes, that woman was doing everything short of literally throwing herself at him," Kate grumbled in disgust.

Abby chuckled, amused. "I was talking about Tony."

"Oh…" Although she tried, Kate couldn't help the slight blush that tinged her cheeks. Clearing her throat, she ignored Abby's knowing smirk and continued hastily, "He's been like this since the incident… Have you tried talking to him?"

"Yeah, each chance I get. Got nada, zilch – nothing from him. He kept saying that he was fine… the usual blah blah. Then, he'd change the subject," Abby paused with a frown. "You know, it's like those guys kinda beat … well, Tony … outta Tony."

While Kate smiled at Abby's strange analogy, she had to admit that younger woman wasn't too far off mark in her statement – it was as if whatever that made Tony who he was had somehow been lost in the attack. As she made her way back to the desk, she stole another look at her handsome partner. He appeared to be still fully engrossed in his work, and barely looked up when she passed by, but that one brief glance had told her all she needed to know – he was still on the same page as the one he was perusing when she'd left, over half an hour ago. Sitting back down at her desk, Kate knew it was time someone talked to Gibbs about this.

She only hoped that their team leader would have better luck getting through to Tony than the rest of them so far.

O o O o O o O

"Gibbs…"

"I know."

"What?"

"I'm not blind, Kate. I know he's been pushing himself exceedingly hard since he got back, and the stunt he pulled on our last case? If it wasn't for his perpetual blind luck… No wonder I'm going grey…" Gibbs trailed off and continued to glower into his drink.

Kate blinked at that but wisely refrained from pointing out that Gibbs was already well on his way there. She turned back to her own drink instead, half listening to Abby and Ducky's conversation on her other side.

The four of them were at Callaghan's. Gibbs had been surprised to see the rest of his team, sans Tony, when he'd walked in earlier but had immediately joined them at the bar. He had another reason for being there aside from taking the moment to unwind – they'd just closed a tough murder case only three hours earlier – to give Jack, who'd been pretty anxious about Tony, an update on the younger man.

It was then that Gibbs had found out that Tony had declined the invitation to join in, just as he'd been doing for the past two weeks, mumbling some unintelligible excuse about heading home to catch up with some sleep. Gibbs had lifted an eyebrow at the information but hadn't participated further in the discussion, listening quietly while the rest of his team talked, although he'd been privately worried when it was disclosed that Tony had all but ignored Abby and Kate's pleas to come along with them. The old Tony that he knew would've done the exact opposite and basked in all the attention.

"That bad, huh?" Callaghan asked in a low voice from across the bar, a frown creasing his forehead. He'd spoken to Tony a couple of times since that night, and even through the phone he could tell that the kid wasn't doing all that well. He just hadn't expected it to be this bad.

Gibbs gave an almost imperceptible nod. "I was banking on him bouncing back on his own…" he answered in an equally subdued tone. "It's been almost two weeks and it looks like he's just been drifting further away from the team."

"His work?"

"Still up to his usual standards, if not better."

"Have you tried talking to him?"

The look on Gibbs' face was answer enough and Jack grimaced, "So I take it he's been giving you his usual 'I'm fine' stance as well?"

"And I probably would have believed him, if it wasn't for that perpetual haunted look in his eyes…" Gibbs's mouth thinned into a line at the memory.

"You know, Jethro, though he is not experiencing or exhibiting all of the symptoms, it seems our boy may be suffering from some form of PTSD …" Dr Donald Mallard remarked in a thoughtful tone and Gibbs raised an eyebrow at the team's medical examiner seated on Kate's other side.

"What? Post Traumatic Stress Disorder?" Kate questioned, surprised. "Tony?"

Dr Mallard, affectionately known as Ducky to his friends and colleagues, bobbed his head enthusiastically. "Not sleeping, not eating, abrupt withdrawal from the people around him…"

"And edgy… definitely edgy," Abby piped up from Ducky's left side, her ringed fingers playing with the straw of the drink in front of her. "The other day, I tapped him from behind and he practically jumped out of his skin. If he hadn't turned so pale, I would've kid him about getting caught so off guard like that. But before I could say anything, he mumbled something about following up on a lead and disappeared out the door."

Kate looked dubiously at the younger woman. "Couldn't he be doing exactly that?"

Abby shook her dark head. "Nope. There was nothing on that day."

"A cold case, perhaps?"

The young Goth shot Kate a look. With a grimace, Kate nodded slowly, "Right, talking about Tony here. He'd rather be playing one of his computer games instead." She caught Gibbs' eyes and added hurriedly, "Not that he has any on his computer… now…"

"Come to think of it, I haven't seen him here since that night," Jack added quietly, studying the concerned faces before him.

"This certainly brings to mind a young man I once knew, a long time go, who also underwent quite a traumatic experience, not unlike young Anthony, although I must say that–"

"Ducky…" Gibbs broke in impatiently. "PTSD?"

"Oh, right. Well, as you know, there are four types of PTSD – and since it has been less than a month since the attack, I'd say that Anthony is most likely suffering from acute stress disorder, the first, and least severe of the four stages," Ducky said, tapping his forefinger against the fine polished wood of the bar.

"How could we have missed something like that?" Kate asked, shaking her head.

"Yes, well, we've all been interacting with him separately and only seeing only one or two of the signs at one time, Caitlin," Ducky reminded her gently. "It only became clear when the symptoms were listed together. You will also have to take into consideration that young Anthony has been putting on quite a good show and pretending that everything is currently all right with him."

"Yeah… If I see that over-bright smile one more time…" Kate grumbled to no one in particular.

"But you always see that over-bright smile," Abby remarked, confused. "Don't we all?"

"No," Kate shook her head. "I can't really explain it but this one is different somehow."

"It's empty," Gibbs muttered darkly as he got off the stool and headed towards the restrooms, missing the stunned looks on the women's faces at his accurate interpretation.

"I hate it when he does that… How does he do that, anyway?" Kate groused to Abby, who flashed her a grin.

"He's Gibbs," the lab technician answered with a nonchalant shrug, as if that explained everything.

Callaghan quickly hid a grin, greatly amused by the entire exchange. He found Gibbs' team to be a bunch of really likeable people and especially enjoyed watching the younger ones continually cracking their heads trying to figure their boss out. And Gibbs definitely knew how to keep them on their toes, guessing, especially–

Tony.

At that, Jack's smile slowly faded away and he sighed softly. Since meeting him two years ago, Jack had grown rather fond of the exuberant, though sometimes impulsive, young man, seeing in him the son that he'd lost so many years ago. It was extremely painful to see him go through this whole experience and knowing that there was nothing that he could do to for his young friend. _It's a good thing the kid has some great friends though. Now, if only that stubborn idiot would just let them help him…_

"Gibbs? Where are you going?" Abby's question drew him from his thoughts and Jack looked up just in time to see the man in question walking away from the bar.

"To get something…" Gibbs threw back succinctly over one shoulder before he disappeared out through the front door.

Watching as the door closed behind the enigmatic agent, Abby remarked in a distracted tone of voice, "Well, whatever he's up to, I'm sure we'll find out tomorrow."

Jack raised an eyebrow at that but couldn't quite contain the chuckle when he heard Kate mutter scathingly under her breath, "Suuuure we will. Excuse me while I try to contain myself…"

Ducky smiled benignly at his remaining three companions as he held up his glass, rotating it slightly so that the light from the bar above bounced attractively off the drink contained inside. "This liquid has a very interesting colour and texture to it. Did I ever tell you of the time I was in Malaysia, about twenty years ago, during one of the monsoon seasons? Really torrential rain, mind you…"

* * *

A/N: Wow, thanks for being such an amazing bunch of people! I'm sorry I'm unable to email each of you personally to express how grateful I am for your fantastic reviews (between work and harassing my beta, there's hardly enough time for the other stuff… :D) but know that I'm totally blown away by all the support you've given this story. Hope that you've enjoyed this chapter as well. Thanks again for reading! 


	5. Concerns

Disclaimer: NCIS and all related characters belong to CBS, Donald P. Bellisario and Belisaurius Productions.

* * *

**Chapter Five**

"We're here to give you a lesson, boy – one that you won't forget in a hurry…"

"Wait… please, listen to me…"

"Too late… for you and especially for that … oh so lovely friend of yours…" the voice sneered.

Eyes wide, Tony looked fearfully to his right and his breath caught at the glimpse of Kate's broken body lying mangled on the road next to his car, her eyes looking sightlessly into the night sky.

"No…" the plea escaped him in a ragged whisper even as he struggled ineffectually against the hands that were holding him in place. "Kate…"

"Oh, was that her name?" the man mocked, his amusement evident as he took in his hapless victim's fury and grief. "How nice…"

Ignoring the taunt, Tony turned burning eyes towards his antagonist, who, for some reason, remained strangely indistinguishable. All he could make out was that the man was big and heavily muscled... or was he tall and wiry? "What have you done?!"

"Nothing that we're not going to do to you, _Officer Smartmouth_…" The snide reply was greeted by boisterous laughter by the watching men surrounding them.

"Why you bas…" Tony snarled, fighting to get free, but all he managed to accomplish with his latest attempt was to get the breath knocked out of him when one of the men stepped forward and proceeded to punch him hard in the stomach. His legs folded from under him and Tony would have fallen were it not for the two sets of arms presently holding him up.

"Temper, temper…" the leader interjected derisively, his teeth flashing briefly in the gloom of the night. Reaching out, he tapped a coughing Tony on one cold cheek. "Careful now, pretty boy… you wouldn't want me to hurt either of them… any more than they already are, would you now?"

Nausea rose within Tony as the man stepped to one side, revealing two men slumped on the ground behind him. His breath caught in his throat as he recognised the battered body and bloodied features of the young man lying out cold beside a semi-conscious Gibbs, who appeared to be in equally bad, if not worse, shape.

"Will?" the young agent hissed out a painful breath, unable to believe his eyes. "But how? You're–"

"–here to pay for all your mistakes all over again, DiNozzo," the leader interjected with a cruel laugh. "Aren't you, William, my boy? As for this one…"

At his signal, two other men grabbed Gibbs and hauled him upright. Head lolling upon his shoulders, the injured agent moaned softly at the harsh treatment and Tony looked frantically back towards the big hoodlum. "Please, let him … let all of them go…" he pleaded in feverish desperation. "They don't have anything to do with this…"

The smirk widened. "It just doesn't pay to be friends with you, does it, DiNozzo?"

Before Tony could even react to that taunt, the man pulled out a gun, placed it at Gibbs' temple and pulled the trigger.

"NO!!"

"**NO!!**" Tony jerked violently awake with the scream still lingering in the air, almost falling off his chair in the process. Looking wildly around, it took him a moment before he realised that he was still at his desk at the NCIS headquarters. Relaxing his death grip upon the gun that he'd managed to pull out from his open drawer during his brief moment of blind terror, Tony dropped his head into his hands with a low groan of despair, eyes squeezed tightly shut against the tears that threatened.

He was exhausted, both mentally and physically – trying to keep awake had taken a lot out of him – but each time he'd fallen asleep, the dreams would come, each time ending with one or more people dying while he remained largely helpless. Sometimes, all he could recall of the nightmares were the deaths. Occasionally, they involved total strangers but most of the time, he would watch his friends die in the same horrifying way – a gunshot wound to the head. And his own terrified screams would wake him up – all sweaty and panic-stricken.

It'd now come to the point that Tony would do just about anything, in order to stay awake – he couldn't bear to go through any more of it, night after night. Telling himself firmly that it was all just part of his subconscious hadn't helped in lessening the dreams in any way.

After making his excuses to Kate and Abby about going to Callaghan's for a drink, he'd opted to stay at the office rather than go back to his apartment, although he knew that he was only delaying the inevitable – he would need to rest sooner or later, especially if he wanted to keep his friends from figuring out what was wrong with him. He'd then tried working on his computer but in spite of his best efforts, he'd fallen asleep at his desk, only to be awoken by yet another nightmare.

Reaching for his cup of coffee with a trembling hand, Tony took a sip and grimaced in disgust. It was ice cold. He must have been asleep longer than he thought. As he took another swallow of the unappealing beverage, Tony mused ruefully that if this kept up, he'd probably turn into Gibbs in no time.

Putting the cup down and leaning back cautiously in his chair, Tony ran long fingers through his already dishevelled hair while he reflected on what he could remember of the dream – it was different from the ones that had plagued him so far. Aside from the fact that he could actually remember the exact sequence of it, it also featured someone he'd not thought of for a long, long time. He was so caught up in his thoughts that he wasn't aware of the presence of another in the room until the question rang out, startlingly loud in the relative silence of the place.

"You okay?"

Still feeling his heart racing away beneath his hand that he had pressed to his chest, Tony turned to stare at his team leader with wide green eyes. "For the love of–" he gasped, swallowing convulsively. "Boss, don't sneak up on a guy like that, would ya? You almost gave me a heart attack."

Gibbs snorted lightly, studying the younger man seated at his desk in the dimly lit room. "With the kind of junk that you eat, it shouldn't be too hard."

"Hey!" Tony protested, sitting up straighter in his chair. "I'll have you know that I cover all the four major food groups…"

"I thought you were going to go home..."

Mouth dry, Tony eyed Gibbs with some trepidation at the abrupt change in topic, adeptly reading more behind the evenly stated statement. He swiftly schooled his features, and answered as cheerfully as he could manage under the circumstances, "Decided to catch up with some work, Boss, especially with the number of documents we have to go through for Private Cooper's case and…"

"Cut the crap, DiNozzo," Gibbs growled, effectively shutting the other man up. He'd not been all that surprised to find Tony asleep at his desk when he's walked in earlier, and was just debating with himself whether he should rouse the younger man up and get him home when Tony had suddenly jerked awake with a strangled scream. It wasn't exactly a great way to confirm what Ducky had already guessed back at Callaghan's but witnessing the entire thing had helped to clear up a lot of doubts. Giving the young agent a stern look, he asked, "How long have you been having those nightmares?"

Tony mumbled something unintelligible under his breath as he looked away from Gibbs' sharp gaze and began clearing up his desk. For a time, the only sound in the office was the rustling of papers. Keeping his head down, Tony's mind raced even as he mechanically stacked up the rest of the paperwork he'd been studying into a pile. He knew that Gibbs was still awaiting his reply but a part of him was reluctant to give the older agent any – this was _his_ problem – his, not Gibbs', and he'd deal with it his way.

Still, the silence that stretched between them became so palpable and Tony was sure that at any moment, he would start screaming uncontrollably at Gibbs to please just leave him the heck alone.

"DiNozzo?"

Jumping slightly at the soft call, Tony froze in mid-action of moving a pile of papers to one side of the table and looked up unwillingly to meet the cool blue gaze. Quickly averting his own red-rimmed ones, the younger agent moved his shoulders in a slight shrug, all at once feeling like a suspect undergoing one of Gibbs' interrogation sessions. "Two… three weeks..."

"Since the attack?"

"Yeah, something like that." Tony stood up, eager to get away before the questions became too hard to handle. He also needed to be alone before he could allow himself to analyse his latest nightmare. It'd been some time since he'd thought about what had took place so many years ago – he'd buried it so deeply within the recesses of his mind that he'd almost forgotten about it. Almost. But not quite, it would seem, judging from the dream he'd just had.

"Want to talk about it?"

Surprised by the unexpected offer, Tony stared at his team leader for a moment before he remembered that Gibbs was waiting for an answer. Leaning down, he quickly grabbed hold his knapsack and slung it over one shoulder, keeping his gaze carefully averted. "I… uhm… No, there's nothing to talk about, Boss," he mumbled, clearing his throat uncomfortably.

_Oh, I'm sure there isn't._ The blank, shuttered look on Tony face, however, told Gibbs that this wasn't the appropriate time to push for an answer, instinctively knowing that all he would accomplish if he did so would be to drive the younger man further into his self-imposed shell. Somewhat reluctantly, Gibbs decided to allow the matter to rest for now, and indicated instead the car keys clutched in Tony's left hand with a raise brow. "You're sure you're okay to drive?"

"Yeah, Gibbs. I'm fine. I'd … err … see you tomorrow," Tony gave Gibbs a wan smile and then hurried out of the bullpen, missing the flash of concern on the other man's face.

"And try and get some rest, DiNozzo! That's an order!" Gibbs called out after the fast disappearing agent. Tony's faint reply of acquiescence floated back to him and Gibbs shook his head as he watched the haphazardly executed exit. Snatching up the file that he'd come to the office for in the first place, Gibbs headed for the door with a sigh, turning the lights out as he made his way towards the elevator.

The kid was definitely going to be the death of him some day.

O o O o O o O

Trailing behind Tony's vehicle at a discreet distance, Gibbs wondered if he'd made the right call to allow the younger man to drive in his current condition. The kid was clearly upset by his most recent nightmare, despite his act earlier back at the office. And coupled with his obvious exhaustion, Tony would be an easy target, especially this late in the night. The fact that the young agent had yet to realise that he was being followed was proof enough of how distracted he was at the moment.

His heart jumped when the car swerved slightly to the right before moving back into its lane. If they weren't almost at Tony's apartment, Gibbs would've immediately pulled him over and blistered his ear about his supposed driving skills. However, that proved to be the only incident during the rest of the drive back, something that Gibbs would be eternally grateful for – it wouldn't do for Tony, or anyone else, to find out that he'd managed to turn his team leader into a perpetual mother hen.

The younger man soon pulled into the parking area, while Gibbs came to a stop by the kerb half a block away, near enough for him to have a clear view of the place but not too near as to arouse Tony's suspicions. Satisfied to see that there weren't any suspicious characters loitering nearby, Gibbs sat in his car, the engine idling, and watched until Tony was safely inside the apartment building before driving off.

O o O o O o O

It took Tony's sluggish mind several seconds to work out that the light that was currently prodding his half-lidded eyes open came from the window. Yawning, he peered sleepily at the clock, groaning aloud when he found out exactly what time it was. He promptly turned and hid his head under the huge pillow, the movement twisting the blanket even more around his bare lean waist. It was definitely way too early to be up, despite the overly cheery encouragement from the sun shining outside his bedroom window.

Suddenly, his eyes snapped open when he realised that he'd just slept through the entire night without waking up screaming from some nightmare, obscure or otherwise. Not once. Turning onto his back and staring up at the ceiling, Tony allowed the wonder of it to wash over him as the realisation slowly sunk in. It'd been a while since he'd had a decent night's sleep that he'd almost forgotten how good it felt to have one.

The significance of his rather restful night was not lost on him – Tony had a vague idea on why his demons hadn't reared their ugly heads last night. He might have wanted to think things through when he got home, but his body obviously had other plans for him, and he was practically asleep the instant his head touched the pillow. Though it was his first uninterrupted one since the attack almost three weeks ago, it didn't completely take away his fatigue – Tony still found himself feeling oddly exhausted – it was a start nonetheless.

He closed his eyes and tried to slip into oblivion once more but sleep wouldn't come. After a few more minutes, he gave up. With a weary sigh, Tony disentangled himself from the blanket, got out of bed, and padded barefoot towards the bathroom. Since rest was now all but impossible, he might as well start getting ready for work.

Perhaps if he got in earlier, he might be able to convince Gibbs to grant his request for several days of leave – he had some place he needed to be and something that he should have done a very long time ago.

O o O o O o O

"Special Agent DiNozzo," Tony said distractedly into the telephone, the handset cradled unevenly between his ear and one shoulder while he ruffled through the pile of papers on his desk with his hands. Suddenly he stilled, straightened in his chair and took the handset in one hand, the documents that he had been searching for moments before all but forgotten. "Yes, hello, Detective Chen. Yeah, I'm doing great, thanks. Yourself?"

Seated at her desk, Kate looked up inquiringly at the name of the detective in charge of the investigation into Tony's attack. The local police already know whom they were looking for, largely thanks to the pictures that Abby had managed to extract from a video surveillance camera of the adjacent appliance store. So far, however, neither they nor the NCIS team have had much luck in finding the men or the woman that the ringleader had mentioned on the night of the assault. During one of his calls, Chen had even reluctantly put forth the notion that the suspects might have had already skipped town, especially when they found out that Tony was a federal agent.

The longer Tony continued to speak into the telephone, the quieter his voice became, until Kate had trouble following his side of the conversation.

"Kate?"

Turning, Kate found Gibbs standing beside her desk, his usual cup of coffee in one hand, and his sharp gaze on Tony.

"It's Chen," she murmured in reply to Gibbs' questioning look. "This is definitely not his usual weekly call."

"How long has he been on?"

"Coming on to five minutes now." Kate took a quick peek at her watch and then glanced up at her team leader. "Do you think they caught the men?"

An eyebrow rose. "Why don't we ask DiNozzo?"

It was then that Kate realised that Tony had already hung up the phone, and was now staring blankly at some particular spot on his table. Concerned by the distinctive lack of colour on his face, Kate got up and closed the gap between them, vaguely aware that Gibbs was keeping pace with her.

"Tony?"

"Hmmm…?" Pulling himself from his thoughts at Kate's call, Tony was disconcerted to find two pairs of eyes, one blue, the other brown, looking down at him with various degrees of concern in them. For some inexplicable reason, he felt himself flush under the scrutiny and awkwardly cleared his throat. Did he miss something while he was on the phone? His gaze flickered uneasily from one face to the other before finally settling upon the older one. "Boss?"

Gibbs suppressed the urge to sigh aloud at the completely lost and bewildered look on the younger man's face. He crossed his arms over his chest instead, and prompted impatiently, some of his exasperation showing in his voice, "The call, DiNozzo…"

Tony blinked. "Oh, right." He stood up and started pacing the floor, suddenly feeling too wound up to sit still any longer. "They've just picked up two of the men and the girl that I was supposed to have … err …" He gave a vague wave with his hand before continuing, "Anyhow, Chen wants me to go down to the station this afternoon to ID the suspects."

Concealing his disquiet at the younger man's uncharacteristic restlessness, Gibbs gave a curt nod. "Take the afternoon off."

"Thanks, Boss."

"Need some company?"

Tony flashed his fellow agent a grateful look but shook his head. "Thanks for the offer, Kate, but I think this is something I need to get done on my own."

* * *

A/N: Hmm, looks like we're halfway through already. Which reminds me… Right, well, it seems that RL has just latched its sticky lil' fingers onto my beta and, regardless of how much harassing I do, it appears to have no immediate plans of letting go. But, please do stay tuned and I will try to get the remaining chapters up as soon as I can liberate them. :D 

Once again, thanks for all the wonderful reviews. To answer a few: Chiara – apologies for the length of the bio but I can't promise an update any time soon, it took me ages to get the present one up. :D Ruth – This story was originally supposed to be only five chapters long, but it sorta doubled by the time I was done. There's also one other minor thing: sHoT would probably have my head for any other further additions… ;D SKRoberts – lol! That was cute. Sophia Prester – I'd try my best not to disappoint. Commodore Norrington – You sure know how to encourage a person. Thanks! FreakAngel – 'Sounds like some jungle?' It does? Really? You don't say... Though, personally, I've always felt it to be a remarkably beautiful country. :)


	6. Answers

**Chapter Six**

Whatever Tony was expecting of the person who got him into this mess in the first place, it certainly wasn't Margaret Colson. In the first place, with shoulder length golden brown hair and soft doe-like eyes, and dressed in a simple skirt and blouse outfit, she looked as if she should be mothering two to three kids and being an active member of the local PTA, instead of running around with hoodlums like Carl Gatley. Then again, Tony knew first hand how misleading appearances could be.

And despite being altogether prepared to experience some small measure of anger, or at least extreme dislike, towards her, Tony was surprised when all he felt was a burst of pity for the young woman. Perhaps it had something to do with her looking so decidedly despondent and uncomfortable sitting there all alone in the stark room. For a fleeting moment, he even wondered if the police had brought in the correct person.

Quickly dismissing the thought, Tony leaned forward with a frown, studying whatever feature of her face that he could see through the observation window. There was something vaguely familiar and intriguingly unsettling about the woman but, for the life of him, he couldn't figure out what it was. Turning away from the opening that looked into the interrogation room, he met Detective David Chen's dark intelligent eyes. "Has she said anything?"

The detective shook his slightly tousled head, his expression thoughtful. "Not much. She has, however, declined representation, although we've yet to charge her with anything so far. And apart from asking to speak to you personally, and only with you, Colson hasn't spoken another word since we brought her in."

Leading Tony to the door, Chen paused and studied the lean NCIS agent before him, allowing his disquiet at how pale the man was to show. The only current visible colour on Tony's face was the fading bruise on one side of his chin and the dark circles under his eyes. "You ready for this?"

"Yeah," Tony answered absently, his mind already on the upcoming meeting with his accuser. When the detective didn't open the door right away, he looked up impatiently, meeting the concern in the other man's gaze with narrowed green eyes.

"You're sure you're okay?" Chen frowned. "You look a little–"

"I'm fine," Tony interrupted tersely, looking away from the searching eyes to stare doggedly at the door before him. Instantly regretting his brusque tone, he gave his face a tired scrub before continuing in a quieter tone, "I'm sorry, I've not been getting much sleep lately."

If Chen had any thoughts on that, he prudently chose not to voice it, saying instead, "Okay. I'll be listening on this side."

With a nod, Tony opened the door to the interrogation room and stepped through.

O o O o O o O

Gibbs gritted his teeth briefly in exasperation when the shadow passed by his table yet again. "What is it, Kate?"

"He's been gone quite some time."

"DiNozzo can take care of himself," Gibbs answered levelly, his eyes remaining steadfastly on the document in front of him. As Kate wandered back to her desk, he stole a quick peek at the time. She was right, though, it had been several hours since Tony left for the station. Normally, he wouldn't worry about his absent agent, but Tony hadn't been himself lately and the truth be told, he was getting more than a little worried himself the longer the hours dragged by.

Making up his mind, Gibbs stood up and grabbed his jacket. "Keep looking through those records," he ordered as he passed by Kate's table.

"Where are you going?" she called out after him.

"Out."

Kate nodded and then said softly to herself, "I hope when you find him, you'll have better luck getting him to talk than the rest of us…"

_Damn, either Kate's getting really good at this or I'm becoming way too predictable in my old age… _He knew the softly spoken plea was not supposed to be for his ears but he heard it anyway. Although he didn't show any reaction to Kate's accurate guess, Gibbs inwardly shook his head as he strode grimly out of the bullpen.

O o O o O o O

_"Call if you need anything… Anything at all, okay?" Abby reminded him, with unusual solemnity, just before he left._

_"I will," he responded with a lighthearted cheerfulness that he didn't feel, capping the entire act with an over-wide smile and a jaunty salute._

Now, as he sat in the driver's seat of his car, still parked at the edge of the visitors' lot, Tony was suddenly very tempted to do just that, even if it was just to hear a friendly voice – something, anything, to counteract the disconcerting experience he'd just had. He'd seen so much, first as a cop, now as an NCIS agent, but every once in a while, he was still both equally intrigued and appalled by a person's capacity for malevolence.

Why do people do the things that they do? It'd never ceased to amaze him what some of these people were capable of, in particular for the pettiest – even worse, the dumbest of reasons – especially under certain given circumstances.

There was one thing he knew though, things without question looked and felt decidedly different on _this_ side of the fence.

_"So I heard that you're an … NCIS special agent…?" she asked after Tony had introduced himself. She waited for his nod before continuing, "And what is that exactly? Some special branch of the CIA or something?"_

_"Or something," Tony replied in an even tone, not bothering to elaborate his answer any further. Seated directly across Margaret_ _Colson, he laced his fingers loosely in front of him on the table, his entire person deceptively relaxed, and eyed the woman in front on him with open curiosity. "Do I know you, Ms Colson?"_

_"Not really, but I know you, Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo," she replied with a smirk, twirling a lock of golden brown hair with one long, perfectly manicured finger. She met his stare without blinking. "And please, call me Margie. Ms Colson is way too formal while Margaret… well, it is just so very old-fashioned… don't you think?"_

_It completely threw him off then; that cold calculated look that had appeared so out of the blue in her light brown eyes, lurking ever so subtly beneath that light flirtatious manner of hers. Suddenly, she didn't look so dispirited or misunderstood anymore and a flash of clarity hit Tony as he continued to gaze intently at her._

_"Like what you see?"_

_"Why?" he bit out the question, ignoring both of hers, his own eyes hardening. She might look it, but Margaret Colson was definitely no innocent and he wasn't about to start treating her like one, no matter how much he was tempted to._

_"Why not, Agent DiNozzo? Or can I just call you Tony?" she smiled coyly at him. When he didn't react, or answer, the slim brunette crossed her arms and leaned back in her chair, her own smile fading from her face. Stonily, she eyed him with a measure of distaste. "I got caught, Carl needed a name, and you were the perfect one."_

_His expression never changed. "Perfect one?" he echoed, one eyebrow arching upwards._

_She sighed, an absolutely bored look coming over her delicate features. "You had the looks." Again, she gave him another appraising look. "But better yet, the reputation..."_

_Tony fought the urge to break eye contact, and met her knowing smirk and predatory look steadily. "So you told Gatley that we slept together," he finished, his voice giving none of his feelings or thoughts away._

_Colson shrugged, and then said with a bitter smile, "Had you paid me more attention instead of giving the bartender instructions on how to make your stupid drink that night, that could have happened…" She leaned forward and murmured, "You know, Handsome, it was kinda like killin' two birds with one stone – Carl got someone to vent his anger upon, and I got my payback. I believe some people call that… poetic justice…?"_

Leaning back against the headrest, Tony pressed the heels of his hand to his aching eyes and sighed tiredly, feeling physically and emotionally drained. Despite the sharp bitter taste of revulsion in his mouth, however, he was relieved to get some part of this entire nightmare resolved. A sharp harsh bark of humourless laughter escaped him as he considered the irony of the whole situation. Who would have guessed that when he took a social break, it would get him into so much trouble?

When Colson had mentioned the making of the drink, Tony suddenly realised why she'd seemed so familiar to him at first – they'd met once, briefly. He'd been talking to Jack at the bar, debating over the ingredients of a particularly complicated concoction, when the woman had slid up to him and had attempted to chat him up. And she certainly wasn't shy about letting him know exactly what she wanted from him that night.

Only Margaret Colson hadn't looked anything remotely like _the_ Margaret Colson that he'd just spent almost an hour talking with in the interrogation room.

On the night of their initial meeting, her hair was long and blond, and she had on a short black dress, an outfit so tight he remembered marvelling at her ability to draw breath while being in it. He might not be a novice when it came to women but she managed to get his cheeks flaming in that short amount of time that he was in her presence. And the only thing he got from declining her blatant invitation was Jack's disbelieving look and a healthy dose of the bar owner's droll wit for the remaining of the night.

_"That's it?" he asked incredulously, his tone icy. "I turned you down that one time and you send your boyfriend to pound on me?" He shook his head. "That's definitely some twisted sense of justice you've got going there…"_

_To her credit, Colson flushed at the cold accusation. "All Carl saw was the guy's back when the idiot ran naked out the back door. He demanded a name and yours came to mind." She lifted one slim shoulder. "Look, I didn't expect Carl_ _to react the way he did. In the past, all he'd do was to yell a lot before going out to get drunk."_

_"He **was** drunk," Tony said flatly. He allowed the fact to sink in a moment before asking, "So why request this meeting, Ms Colson?"_

_This time she didn't object to the formal usage of her name, saying instead, "Despite how it might appear to you, Agent DiNozzo, I love Carl. And he's in this because of me. Because **he** loves me."_

_"And you're telling me all of this because…?"_

_She licked her lips, suddenly pensive. "I need you to understand why he did what he did…"_

_Tony shook his head. "Whether I do or not doesn't make a difference–"_

_"Yes, it does," she disagreed, leaning forward once more. "Carl's a dangerous man when crossed, Agent DiNozzo. You wouldn't want to do that."_

_"I'll take my chances."_

_His guard went up almost instantly when she gave him a speculative look for a moment before her full lips curved into a seductive smile. Lowering her voice till it was a mere whisper, ensuring that no one but Tony could hear her, Colson held his gaze as she murmured, "You know, if you help by dropping the charges, l could make it so very worth your while…"_

Their conversation wound up not long after that, and Tony had walked out of the room, feeling to some extent physically ill and, after a brief meeting with Detective Chen, he'd all but stumbled out of the station and into his car.

During their discussion, he'd passed on Colson's 'offer' to Chen, though not in her exact words. Looking in equal parts unconcerned and amused, Chen had assured him that it was only a matter of time before they caught up with Gatley, but Tony was only half listening to the detective, nodding every so often at what he hoped were the right moments. All he could think of doing at the time was escape – he just wanted to get away from the suddenly suffocating atmosphere of the building.

Chen must have sensed his inner turmoil and uneasiness because he kept their conversation short and concise, and while he didn't ask again, Tony caught the flash of concern in his dark eyes as he said his goodbyes. For a moment, Tony considered telling the man that he was fine one more time, just to set his mind at ease, but decided against it – he wasn't entirely sure himself that he was all right at the moment.

And there lay the incongruity of it all – he'd been saying it for so long to everyone that he wondered if he was beginning to believe the lie himself.

Running a weary hand through his light brown hair, Tony was reaching forward to start the car when he heard it. The subtle click of a gun being cocked from the back seat – the soft sound abominably loud in the surrounding silence – and he froze, eyes widening slightly.

"You're turning out to be more trouble than you're worth, DiNozzo," a voice hissed into his ear and Tony's breath caught in his throat. _Gatley…_

Before he could react, there was a sharp, intense pain at the back of his neck and then everything went black.

O o O o O o O

He barely slowed his speed as he flipped the cell open. "Gibbs."

"Special Agent Gibbs, this is Detective David Chen." The voice on the phone was low and even, but Gibbs could sense the underlying currents in it.

"What can I do for you, Detective?" Gibbs asked, his other free hand expertly guiding the car through the heavy traffic. "What? … When? … I'm on my way." Ending the call, he quickly punched in another number on his cell. "Kate? Meet me at the precinct downtown immediately. Carl Gatley just contacted Chen. He has Tony."

* * *

A/N: To those who've taken the time to read and review, this chapter is for you. :D l'ilmissnitpick: Terribly sorry about the lack of Tate (there are very, very vague hints, though… did I mention very, very vague?) but this story has more to do with friendship, especially between Gibbs and Tony. Hope that won't disappoint too much. :) morourke: Great catch there. Answers to your questions coming up soon! 


	7. Missing

Disclaimer: NCIS and all related characters belong to CBS, Donald P. Bellisario and Belisaurius Productions.

* * *

**Chapter Seven**

Kate sensed the friction the moment she stepped into the small room that had been turned into a temporary command centre to coordinate the finding and safe return of NCIS Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo. If the tension itself wasn't bad enough, the people clustered in there who were studiously avoiding her eyes while studying her entrance with ill-concealed fascination didn't help to reassure her one bit. Ignoring them, she immediately sought out her team leader, eyes widening when she found him.

Oh boy.

Gibbs was standing in one corner of the room, glowering at a tall, lean Chinese man, who, from the look of things, didn't appear at all intimidated by the larger man, and was returning Gibbs' glare with equal measure. Guessing the good-looking stranger to be Detective David Chen, Kate shook her head as she walked up to them, catching the end of the man's sentence.

"…I've already got all available units out combing the city and surrounding districts for both Gatley and Agent DiNozzo, as well as an APB on Gatley's truck." He waved a hand in the air. "Now, regarding the FBI…"

"No." Gibbs' unyielding tone brooked no argument.

"And may I ask why not?" The sentence practically dripped exasperation.

"Any increase in the number of people involved would only lead to an increase of potential mistakes that might just screw up this entire investigation." Gibbs shook his head. "And I can't take that chance, not with this case."

Chen gave a brusque nod, understanding all too well the other man's reasons for not wanting the Feds involved. He would probably do the same if it had been one of his people who were missing. "All right. We'll hold off on that for now. But I still need you and your people–"

"It is one of **my** men who is missing," Gibbs countered with a fixed stare. A police cruiser had located Tony's abandoned vehicle a few minutes ago, and the small traces of blood discovered on the driver's seat had been anything but reassuring.

"I understand that, Agent Gibbs. But this is still **my** investigation so unless you know where they are, we will do this my way!" the other man shot back with firm finality before turning towards Kate. "Yes?"

"Agent Kate Todd, NCIS," she supplied on cue. "I'm with Agent Gibbs."

"Detective David Chen," the dark-haired stranger returned, steadfastly ignoring the scowling NCIS agent beside him.

Kate shook the proffered hand while trying hard not to smile at the annoyed look on Gibbs' face, despite the severity of the whole situation that they were currently facing. It wasn't very often that someone got the upper hand on her enigmatic boss. In fact, it was downright rare. Looking from one man to the other, she asked, "What's going on?"

"We're waiting for Gatley's next call," Chen responded evenly. "He wants to trade Agent DiNozzo for Margaret Colson."

"The woman who accused Tony," Kate murmured, looking towards Gibbs for clarification and received a terse nod in reply. "Any luck tracing the call?"

Chen shook his head. "Too short. And Gatley has so far refused to speak to anyone else besides myself, seeing that I was arresting officer," Chen continued tiredly, rubbing the back of his neck. He cast a sidelong glance at the NCIS senior agent. "Which is why I need you and your people to stay out of this for now while we handle the situation, Agent Gibbs."

Gibbs glowered. "Fine ... for now. But I want to talk to Colson."

Suspicion flared briefly in Chen's dark eyes. "Why?"

"I think she might be able to help."

"We already tried that," Chen shook his head. "She refuses to believe what we were trying to tell her. My guess is that she thinks it's all a ploy to get her to give up Gatley."

"What about Gatley's accomplices then?" Kate asked. "Maybe they could give us something."

Chen pursed his lips and shook his head. "Not without their legal representatives present, they won't. Both suspects lawyered up as soon as they could. Except Colson, that is, but–"

Gibbs levelled him a look. "She'll believe us."

The young detective sighed inwardly at the determined, confident tone. And he'd thought DiNozzo had been tough to deal with earlier in the afternoon. Apparently, the younger agent must have learnt from the very best. At the moment, however, to get the missing man back safely, Chen was willing to explore every possible avenue available to them, even if it meant putting up with obstinate NCIS agents at each turn.

"All right, Agent Gibbs. I'll allow you a try," he conceded with a nod, stuffing his hands into his pants pocket. He shot the older man a curious look. "But what makes you think she'll talk to you two?"

Gibbs bared his teeth in a faint mimicry of a smile. "Gut feeling."

Chen blinked. _Whoa, that's definitely one dangerous man._ Making a mental note never to get on the NCIS senior agent's bad side, ever, the detective studied the older man for another second before answering. "Okay. Make it count. We'll be watching on the other side."

O o O o O o O

_Ow, ow, ow…_ Blinking hard, Tony tried to orientate himself past his pounding head, feeling extremely nauseous._ I need to stop waking up like this…_

He squeezed his eyes shut against the next wave of pain that swept over him. _Great, another concussion to add to my ever growing collection of head injuries…_ _Then again, what's one more…?_

Eyes still tightly closed, he took mental stock of himself and found that he was lying on his side, with his hands bound tightly behind him, so much so that his fingers were all but numb. Experimentally moving his legs, he discovered them to be tightly bound as well, once around his thighs and another time around his ankles. He could barely feel his toes. _Well, crap…_

Once he managed to get his eyes fully opened, and breathing under control, Tony moved his head ever so slowly, mindful of the fact that it felt all but ready to explode from the intense pain, and studied his surroundings thoroughly. Wondering absently how long he'd been lying unconscious on the dirty floor, the young agent saw that he was in a wooden cabin.

The place was basically unfurnished except for a table and two chairs. Over at a corner, a dilapidated cupboard stood empty, looking as if the only thing holding it together was the thick coat of dust covering it. What appeared to be several pieces of cloth were heaped up haphazardly in another corner and Tony stared at the pile of rags for a moment in complete puzzlement before he realised that it was Gatley's makeshift bed.

The door and windows were tightly shut but judging from the shafts of light shining through the numerous cracks in the wall, Tony figured that there should still be a few hours of daylight left. Good, he didn't fancy blundering around in the dark while trying to make good his escape. So, all he had to do now was to get loose and out of this place before Gatley returned.

Piece of cake.

O o O o O o O

"Ms Colson, I'm Special Agent Todd," Kate introduced herself as she sat down across the woman in the interrogation table. She tilted her head slightly to the right to indicate her silent boss. "And this is Special Agent Gibbs."

"FBI?"

"NCIS."

"I see." Colson studied the people before her with a lazy gaze. "You work with _him_." It was not a question. Neither was there a single doubt whom it was that she was referring to.

"Yes," Kate responded, her expression carefully neutral. She noticed that Gibbs had no trouble doing just that. In fact, if she didn't know better, she'd say he was half asleep.

A knowing smirk graced Colson's full lips. "No wonder he wasn't interested in me…"

Kate didn't even blink. Colson's blatant innuendo was not something she hadn't heard before, though such allusions weren't at all surprising – Tony was without question an extremely attractive man. Naturally, there would be some talk of the sort, especially since the both of them worked so closely and so well together as a team.

However, despite how incredibly much the insinuation grated at her nerves, Kate had no intention of justifying herself or her relationship with Tony to this woman – what they are to each other, and especially what _he_ means to her, was none of Margaret Colson's business. Narrowing her eyes Kate stared, long and hard, at the one person who might just be their only chance of finding their missing teammate. "As you've been informed, Carl Gatley currently has Agent DiNozzo–"

"So they tell me," Colson turned away. She waved one hand dismissively at them but Kate caught the flash of uncertainty on her face before Colson continued, a slight frown marring the smoothness of her forehead, "Nice try, honey, but I didn't believe it when Chen said it and I don't believe it now."

Slightly surprised by the woman's vehement tone – Colson appeared to be trying to convince _herself_ that what they were telling her wasn't true – Kate shot Gibbs a quick look. Her boss was looking steadily at the woman across from them, but she could see the cool fire smoldering in his eyes. Gibbs was pissed, and she was suddenly glad that she wasn't the one in his current line of fire.

"Does this look like a game to you, Ms Colson?" Gibbs growled, his voice low and dangerous. He leaned forward, placing both arms on the table, hands fisted, and glared at the woman. "We are talking about a man's life here!"

The brunette turned wide, startled eyes towards the NCIS agent, suddenly realising that beneath the calm, relaxed demeanor was an exceedingly furious man. She licked her suddenly dry lips, feeling a shiver of fear snake down her spine. "Are you telling me it's all true?" The look on Gibbs face was answer enough and she covered her mouth with one hand in horror. "No, he couldn't be that idiotic…" she said faintly.

"Carl Gatley is a desperate man, Ms Colson," Gibbs spoke up with a grim look. "And from my experience, desperate men tend to do desperate things…"

"But I just saw Agent DiNozzo…" she protested, apprehension and disbelief giving an edge to her voice.

"We believe that Gatley was waiting for Agent DiNozzo inside his car prior to abducting him," Kate informed her, her own tone flat and emotionless.

"That idiot!" Colson raged softly, shaking her head. "That stupid, mindless idiot." She seemed genuinely stricken as she continued to mutter half under her breath, "What have you done, Carl? What **have** you done…?"

"Tell us where we can find him," Gibbs interrupted, commanding her attention once more.

"I–" she paused and looked away from the piercing blue eyes. "I can't help you there, Agent Gibbs."

"Carl Gatley is in a lot of trouble, Ms Colson," Kate reminded her, none too gently. "Unless you help us find and stop him, there's no telling what he might do to Agent DiNozzo. But know this, whatever he has planned, you'll be an accessory after the fact – we'll make sure of that."

"I don't know where he is," Colson said tonelessly after a moment of taut silence, still keeping her gaze on the table before her.

"Ms Colson–" Gibbs began, his tone icier than ever, but before he could go on any further, the woman spoke up once more.

"I do not know where Carl is. I swear I don't…" she reiterated earnestly, looking up after a while and observing the similar expressions of doubt on both the agents' faces. "I've not had any contact with him since I got here."

"But…?" Gibbs prompted when she hesitated, knowing intuitively that there was more to her denial of her boyfriend's whereabouts.

Colson worried her bottom lip for a moment and then heaved a soft sigh as she made up her mind. "But I think I might be able to tell you where Carl could be keeping Agent DiNozzo."

O o O o O o O

Taking another deep breath, Tony gritted his teeth against the burning pain and continued on, steadfastly ignoring his nausea, aching head but more importantly, the remarkably overwhelming appeal of sleep. He was beyond exhausted but remained mindful of the fact that if he stopped, even for a single moment, he might not get this chance, ever again. For all he knew, it could be his only opportunity of escape – he hadn't seen a single sign of Gatley since he regained consciousness, but there was no telling when the man might decide to return to check on his hapless captive. _Where are you, Gibbs? Anytime now would be great, Boss…_

It hadn't taken him long to discover the sliver of glass on the floor underneath the old cupboard. Finding the broken piece of glass, however, turned out to be the easiest part of his whole escape plan. Turning onto his back, he'd used his bound legs to push himself towards his goal, coughing sporadically from the dust stirred up by his movements. Once or twice, he'd tried moving forward on his side or stomach, but his healing ribs had protested too much for him to continue for too long in those uncomfortable positions.

Painfully making his way across the suddenly sizeable dirt floor, Tony would stop every so often to catch his breath, turning back to his side to relieve the ache to his wrists and hands. He groaned in miserable frustration. At the rate he was moving, by the time he reached where he was going, whatever exposed flesh on his arms and hands would probably be scraped raw by the rough ground. How did the place get so big all of a sudden?

Tony had only managed to get halfway across the cabin, but his eyes were starting to close against his will. His clothes, considerably damp from his exertions, clung to him and he was shivering ever so slightly, to some extent from the chill that was seeping through his thin shirt and khakis, but generally from what he guessed was a delayed reaction – shock, most likely – to his abduction. The jacket that he had on when he was taken would have had provided him with some measure of warmth, but it was gone, and along with it, his watch.

Out of the blue, anger flared within him, violent and deep. He was tired of all this, of playing victim to a situation that was not of his making. Spurred by the sudden rush of adrenaline and rage, Tony determinedly wiggled the rest of the way, not stopping until he finally reached his destination. By the time he got to where the piece of glass was, he was dizzy and frighteningly short of breath, but at the same time also strangely elated by that simple achievement. For a long while, the only sound in the room was his harsh breathing as the young agent struggled for air.

After resting for a few moments and getting his pounding heart under control, he'd started sawing feverishly at the rope binding his hands together, using the sharp edge of the glass. Without his watch, his sense of time was undoubtedly more than slightly off, but Tony's best guess was that he'd been trying to get free for at least half an hour since he'd made his way to the corner of the cabin. It was slow, excruciating work, and he managed to slash his hands several times before ultimately finding the right angle and rhythm. He hardly felt the cuts; all he concentrated on was getting his hands free.

It was quite a while before he felt the rope, now damp with blood and sweat, give a little, and his heart gave a slight leap at that. With renewed determination, he moved his arms faster, all the while keeping a watchful eye out for any movement outside the hut that might signify that his captor was back.

And he had to get away before that happened – he'd no doubt that his very survival depended on it.

O o O o O o O

"Carl has this cabin…" Margaret Colson began slowly, hesitantly.

"We've already know about the one in Brookland," Gibbs stated, his expression unchanged. "Gatley isn't there and neither is Tony."

"No," Colson shook her head. "Not that one. There is another, just on the outskirts of Shady Grove…"

Gibbs' eyes narrowed ever so slightly. "Why hasn't it come up in any of the investigations?"

"He inherited this place from his maternal grandmother, and I think he left it under her maiden name," the brunette sighed, gripping both her hands tightly together. The unexpected news of Carl's rash actions of abducting a federal agent had shaken her badly. How could he have been so foolish?

"It's a crappy, rundown place – it's literally falling apart, actually, but Carl always said that it'd be the perfect hiding place for him if he ever needed one," Colson finished, her mouth twisted into a cynical grimace.

"Where exactly is this cabin?" Gibbs asked.

"I– I don't know," she shook her head. "I've only been there once, and by the time we got there, it was dark. All I can tell you about the place is that it was surrounded by a lot of trees."

"What was the grandmother's name?" Kate asked, her pen posed over her notepad.

"Hammond.... no, wait, it's Hamilton. Ella Hamilton," Colson supplied and watched mutely as both agents stood up and made for the door.

"Agent Gibbs," she called out just as the senior agent was about to exit the door. Pausing, he turned towards her, expression guarded. Quickly, before she lost her nerve, Colson took a breath and then blurted out, "Please, promise me you won't hurt him…"

Gibbs met her eyes evenly, nothing of what he was feeling showed on his handsome face. "I'm afraid that, Ms Colson, would be entirely up to Carl Gatley."

* * *

A/N: Wow, I'm fast running out of ways to show how grateful I am for the wonderful feedback and support. It's a totally humbling experience. Thank you all so much!   
ladc: Well, I must say that you have impeccable timing when it comes to reviewing then. Thanks for the 100th one. :)   
Right, just three more chapters to go after this... (though Chapter 10 is really really... really long...) :D Please stay tuned! 


	8. Lesson

**Chapter Eight**

_Yes!_ His mind cried out jubilantly when the rope finally broke, setting his hands free. Dropping the sliver of glass gratefully, he turned slowly onto his back, with his arms at his sides. Tony squeezed his eyes shut against the pain as feeling began to come back to his numb digits. It took a lot longer than he liked, but gradually, the excruciating tingling abated, and he flexed his fingers experimentally, wincing when the numerous abrasions and cuts on his hands and wrists made themselves known. Some of the deeper cuts were still bleeding and Tony studied them with absent fascination for a moment before wiping the blood away with the hem of his shirt.

Sitting up with a stifled groan, he picked up the piece of glass once more, his hand shaking ever so slightly from the fatigue. Bringing his knees up, Tony started on the cord still binding his thighs together. He'd barely started when the sliver suddenly broke into two, cutting his fingers badly in the process, and Tony drew a sharp breath against the pain as he examined the additional damage to his hand.

With the glass rendered useless, the only other way to get free would be to get the knots untied. Fighting off another wave of dizziness, Tony cursed Gatley's rope tying abilities as his bloodied fingers fumbled clumsily at the securely fastened double knot. Why couldn't the bad guys be lousy at this sort of thing for once?

He tugged in frustrated anger at the knot. If only he had something else to cut the rope with – he'd be looking for a way out of this damned hovel at this very moment – instead of still struggling ineffectually with the bindings. Although Tony shot the smaller pieces of glass a longing look, he knew that he wouldn't be able to get a firm grip on any of them to get the job done – they were now too small, and too slick with both blood and sweat.

It took him longer than he'd expected, but he eventually managed to get the first rope untied. Looking up, he saw with a sinking heart that the cabin was suddenly a lot dimmer than before – night was already falling and he hadn't managed to get free just yet. With renewed determination, Tony leaned over once more and continued working on untying the final rope, so intent on his task that he didn't realise that he was no longer alone until the cold, hard voice called out to him, startling him badly.

"Leavin' so soon, are we now?" Gatley said with a sardonic grin as the other man froze ever so briefly before turning wide, uneasy eyes towards him, his long fingers still on the last knot at his ankles. He'd been watching the police station, hidden safely out of sight and trying his best to figure out a way of getting _her_ out of there, when the cause of all this whole mess had shown up. Alone. Gatley grinned. He couldn't have planned it any better himself.

Tapping the buck knife that he was holding on the open palm of his left hand, Gatley eyeballed the young agent's dishevelled and notably bloody appearance. "Hate to break it to you, boy, but you ain't going nowhere, not until I get my Margie back."

O o O o O o O

Gibbs answered on the very first ring, his voice terse. "Abbs? Talk to me."

"Colson was telling the truth about Ella Hamilton," Abby's voice came clearly over the speakerphone. "There is a cabin registered under her name, located a number of miles outside the suburbs of Shady Grove. I'm e-mailing the map of the place and the address right now to Kate's mailbox…"

Gibbs looked over at Kate, who was seated at the borrowed computer. She clicked on the mouse once and nodded. "Got it. Printing now."

While Kate waited for the printout, Gibbs turned his attention back to the telephone. "Good work, Abbs."

"Wait, Gibbs…"

"Yeah?" he asked with a frown, hearing the anxiety in the young forensic expert's voice, his finger hovering over the disconnect button. Though Chen's men had promptly gone into action following Margie Colson's reluctant co-operation and were doing their all to find the mysterious cabin that she spoke of, Gibbs had other plans of his own. The moment that they'd walked out of the police station, he'd immediately contacted Abby with that scant information while the two of them had made a beeline for the nearest Internet café, knowing that she would be able to work a lot faster than anyone involved in this case.

He was right.

Scarcely five minutes had passed before Abby had called back with the crucial information that they needed and Gibbs was once more exceedingly grateful that he only worked with the finest. From the corner of his eyes, he could see Kate thanking the owner of the Internet café for the use of his office and computer.

"Abbs?" he prompted softly when she didn't immediately continue.

"Bring him home safe?" For a split second, Abby's voice wavered at the end of her sentence and Gibbs felt his chest constrict slightly. He met Kate's worried gaze for a split second before looking away, acutely aware that it was not a promise that they would be able to keep, given the circumstances.

The last time they went through something like this, they'd been lucky, extremely so – for, after going missing, Tony had been found safe and unhurt. In fact, he'd been doing his best to get the Marine Gunnery Sergeant that they'd been looking for safely away from the person who'd taken and imprisoned them down in the sewer system in the first place.

And although he never said so, not to Tony anyway, Gibbs was really proud of the way the younger man had handled himself, right to the very end, despite the fact that it took all that he had not to smack the guy in the head afterwards for placing himself so nonchalantly between the woman and the Gunnery Sergeant when she finally caught up with the both of them. Without even first considering the consequences, Tony had turned himself into a human shield, while simultaneously trying his best to talk the woman out of killing the injured marine. He was calm and steady the entire time, refusing to move even when she'd waved the gun at him, but it was Tony's unwavering faith in his friends, that Kate and himself would be there to back him up, that had impressed Gibbs the most.

In the end, through impeccable teamwork, they managed to stop the woman, who had been systematically killing off marines for the past eight years, and save the Gunnery Sergeant. Better still, they got Tony back in one healthy, albeit rather filthy, piece.

But now, there were many indeterminate variables to account for in this situation, the foremost one being Gatley, a man with a volatile temper, and the fact that Gatley and his men had basically beaten Tony senseless barely a month ago. And although Chen didn't exactly voiced it aloud, there was a look on his face that clearly said, for all they knew, Tony could dead already, although Gibbs had steadfastly refused to even consider that a remote possibility. He knew that Gatley saw Tony as his only ticket to getting his girlfriend back, and would keep the young agent alive until then – it was what Gatley was capable of doing when he realised that the deal was never going to happen that worried Gibbs more. They needed to get to Tony before that happened.

Now, with Abby waiting anxiously for his answer on the other side of the phone, Gibbs knew that he should tell her that while they would try their very best, it was out their hands – out of **his** hands – and that, until they found Gatley, Tony would be entirely at the man's mercy. And he should also tell her that there was nothing any of them could do about that.

But, somehow, even with that rational reply hovering ever so readily at the tip of his tongue, Gibbs found that he was unable to say it aloud to her, knowing instinctively what Abby needed to hear at the moment. It was not so much the exact words but the reassurance that came with them.

He closed his eyes briefly and then whispered, "We will, Abby. We will."

O o O o O o O

"But you don't understand–"

"And which part of 'shut your trap' do **you** not understand, boy?" Carl Gatley warned in a low, dangerous tone as he drew nearer, once more cutting off Tony's attempt to reason with him.

Despite his frustration at his failure to communicate the futility of this exercise to his captor, in the hopes of talking Gatley into letting him go, unharmed – neither NCIS nor the police department would ever make such an exchange – Tony willed his expression to remain impassive as the man waved the knife just inches from his face. Hardly breathing, the younger man kept totally still, but couldn't help flinching slightly when Gatley imbedded the tip of the blade into the wooden floor beside his numb legs before picking up the rope that had once bound his thighs together.

This was the first time he had a good look at his captor and, despite his apprehension and fatigue, Tony studied him with a cautiously masked interest. A tall, powerfully built man appearing to be in his middle to late forties, Carl Gatley sported a buzz cut above a heavy jowled face, with a wide generous mouth and a nose that had been broken at least once before. The pleasing ruggedness of Gatley's looks was, however, spoilt by the malicious gleam of ruthlessness that shone out from his light blue eyes.

"And here I thought I've done removed everything useful from the place. Musta missed that bit," Gatley remarked, his tone soft and almost thoughtful as he gazed at the bloodied slivers of glass beside Tony. He then turned those cold, hostile eyes towards Tony, who returned his stare unblinkingly. "Well, ain't you a resourceful one…"

Without warning, the hefty man struck out with one large hand, catching the NCIS agent completely off guard. For a man his size, Gatley was extremely quick in his movements and Tony didn't even see the blow coming until it was too late. The vicious backhand split Tony's bottom lip, and knocked him flat onto his back. His head connected hard with the floor, his vision went grey for a moment, and it took a while for the dazed agent to realised that Gatley was once again binding his thighs together.

"Gotta give you points for that though," the infuriated man all but snarled as he roughly turned Tony over and tied his hands tightly together, relishing the soft grunts of pain emitting from the young agent. Standing up, he gave the hapless man several brutal kicks to his side, a cruel smile lighting up his face when Tony gasped in pain and drew his knees up to his chest, coughing, looking for all the world like he was trying to curl into himself. "Not many people get free after I'm done tying them up. Have to admit, boy, that was pretty smart of you..."

Spitting out blood-tinted saliva, Tony drew another ragged breath past the pain in his chest and tried again. "You know there's no way… they're ever going to agree to your terms…"

"What I know, boy, is that you talk way too damn much," Gatley interrupted, effectively shutting the younger man up with another hard kick. Pulling out a dirty rag from the back pocket of his jeans, he bent over and tied it over Tony's mouth, gagging him tight. He then grabbed a handful of sweaty hair and jerked the head backwards, whispering menacingly into the semi-conscious man's ear, "And if you try that escape stunt one more time, DiNozzo, you'll find out that I won't be as forgiving."

Curled up on his side, breathing hard, Tony tried his hardest to concentrate on his captor's words but the man's face kept washing in and out of focus. Nausea returned, in full force this time, and it was all he could do to keep from being violently sick. With the gag on so firmly, however, he knew it would be an incredibly bad idea to give in to the impulse – he wasn't looking forward to choking to death on his own vomit.

"…in case, though…" Gatley was saying and Tony's breath hitched in his throat as he watched the man pull the hunting knife free from the wooden floor, his thick fingers caressing the razor-sharp edge lovingly. His panic-stricken eyes flew to Gatley's face, and they widened in alarm at the intent that was written clearly all over the man's grinning visage.

He yelled weakly, frantically, into his gag, kicking out in panicked desperation at Gatley, but the older man easily avoided his clumsy attempt, inching closer all the while, the knife held steadily in one hand.

_No!_ Tony's mind gave voice to his horrified protest while he pushed wildly but ineffectually at the ground with his bound legs. He shook his head, pleading with the man with wide green eyes. _No! Please! **Please**! Don't do this! _

"Don't worry," Gatley grinned, enjoying the terror of his helpless victim immensely. He waved the knife in a graceful arc above Tony's stomach, a gleam of ruthless malice in his eyes. "I'll try not to make you bleed … too much…"

In one last, desperate attempt, Tony turned onto his stomach and tried to roll away but the big man caught him by the hem of his shirt and easily pulled him back, turning him almost effortlessly onto his back.

"Now, boy, what did I tell you about trying to escape, hmmm?" Gatley tsked, murmuring in an almost paternal voice before he held down the thrashing legs with one hand and buried more than half of the six-inch stainless steel blade into Tony's right thigh with the other.

A ragged scream erupted from Tony's throat, the sound muffled only by the gag, and his body bucked violently at the white-hot pain that shot directly to his head, sucking all of his breath and the rest of his remaining energy away. And if he thought the pain of the knife going into him was excruciating, it was nothing compared to it coming out. Despite his best intentions to not give Gatley any more satisfaction of a reaction, Tony couldn't stop the low groan of pain from escaping when the blade was viciously yanked free of his leg.

Dimly, through the roaring in his ears and the red haze of pure agony that surrounded him, Tony heard the man whisper lightly into his ear before he succumbed willingly into the swirling darkness, "That wasn't such a hard lesson to learn, was it now?"

O o O o O o O

"Arrrghhhh!" Anthony DiNozzo screamed in sheer agony, eyes squeezed tightly shut as he pushed blindly and desperately at whatever that was pressing down on the lower part of his body, the cause of a pain so intense that he could hardly breathe, let alone coordinate his movements. His arms flailed wildly around for a moment and a soft cry of despair escaped him when they were caught and held down to his sides.

Struggling feebly against the hold, Tony was totally oblivious to the gentleness of the grip upon his arms – his entire world consisted of only one sensation at the moment. Pain. Sharp, deep and white hot, it consumed him whole, to the point that he could no longer tell exactly which part of his body had been injured, and which weren't. Moaning through dry, split lips, he blinked hard, starring blurrily at the oddly familiar face that was wavering nauseatingly in front of him. The man's mouth was moving but Tony couldn't make out anything past the deafening roar in his ears.

"Stay with me, DiNozzo…"

Squeezing his eyes shut once more, he twisted his body weakly, trying to get free, but whoever it was that was holding him down was apparently against the idea because the grip on his forearms only tightened in reaction. Then, the pain from his leg abruptly flared up once more and Tony was helpless to stop the inevitable veil from falling. With a soft, grateful sigh, he embraced the welcomed reprieve as he slipped back into the deep dark abyss.

"DiNozzo!"

_"There's a truck,"_ _Kate pointed out as they finally spotted the dimly lit cabin nestled at the edge of a thick forest. Shepeered through the binoculars at the licence plate. "It's Gatley's," she confirmed softly._

_"Looks like he's in," Gibbs muttered as a shadowy figure crossed the open window briefly. "Unless someone else is house-sitting." _

_"Gibbs? Shouldn't we wait for Chen and his men?" The question was barely audible, almost lost among the sound of the trees rustling in the night breeze. "They should be here pretty soon." _

_"No time," the senior agent replied, equally sotto voce. He'd deal with whatever fallout they might have later on. Right now, each minute they wasted could just cause Tony his life. Drawing his weapon, Gibbs flicked the safety off. "Let's go." _

"**NO**, Kate!" Gibbs said forcefully. He loosened his grip on Tony's forearms the moment he felt Tony go limp under his hands, knowing that he'd passed out once more, despite him urging the man to stay conscious. Ever mindful of the raw, bloody chafes on the young agent's wrists, Gibbs had been very careful to avoid causing any more hurt to the injured man while he'd held him down. He'd also caught the miserable uncertainty on Kate's ashen face when Tony had cried out in distress at their attempts to stop the bleeding.

Again, anger blazed within him, hard and fast, and Gibbs was hard-pressed not to turn around and empty his gun into the bastard that did this to his agent. His face betrayed none of his emotions or thoughts, however, when he said firmly to Kate, "No matter what happens, keep that pressure on the wound until Ducky or the EMT guys get here. You hear me?"

Kate bit into her bottom lip but nodded without any hesitation, never once letting up on the pressure she was exerting on the scrape of cloth she had pressed over the ugly knife wound. She knew it was a necessary step to stop the bleeding, but Kate nonetheless hated being the one to cause the additional pain to her fallen partner. Though still unconscious, Tony moaned low in his throat in reaction and she wished with all her heart that there was another, less painful, way to accomplish what she was trying to do. Looking up to stare anxiously past the broken door into the darkness outside, Kate wondered how much longer they would have to wait before backup arrived.

_"NCIS! Drop the knife! NOW!" _

_The apparent surprise on Gatley's face at their sudden appearance and Gibbs' bellowed command would've been comical if it wasn't for the crumpled body lying in a small pool of blood on the ground beside his feet. For a brief moment, Kate was sure that they were already too late and her heart twisted agonisingly at the thought. Her finger tightening ever so slightly on the trigger of her weapon, she ran a quick sweep of the one-room cabin, just in case their initial reconnaissance had been wrong and the man wasn't working alone. Satisfied that there was no one else, Kate then turned her weapon back towards Gatley, expression grim. _

_"Drop the knife and step slowly away from Agent DiNozzo…" Gibbs growled dangerously, his gun aimed steadily at Gatley's chest. The icy blue eyes narrowed. "Don't make me ask again." _

_Paling noticeably at the quiet rage in Gibbs' voice, Gatley quickly did as he was told and, following Gibbs' terse instruction, carefully took out the gun that he had tucked inside his waistband. Placing it on the ground, he kicked the weapon towards Gibbs before proceeding to lay face down with both arms clasped behind his head. _

_While Gibbs secured Carl Gatley's hands behind his back with a pair of handcuffs and read him his rights, Kate was already at Tony's side. Removing the gag first, she proceeded to check the unconscious man over, her hands swift but gentle. _

_"Kate?" _

_"He's breathing but he's losing blood fast," Kate reported, her voice tense. The unconscious agent's cool, clammy skin, shallow breathing and thready pulse increased her worry as she recognised the familiar symptoms. "Gibbs, I think Tony's going into shock." _

_"Get those ropes off him. Here," Gibbs pulled out a penknife from his back pocket and tossed it over to Kate. He then turned and addressed the handcuffed figure on the floor. "As for you, keep your face down on the floor and eyes closed, is that understood?" At Gatley's nod, Gibbs continued, his voice low and dangerous, "Just give me a reason, Gatley, any reason at all, and I **will** show you what a knife can really do…" _

_Leaving the threat hanging ominously in the air, the NCIS team leader then joined Kate at Tony's side. She had already freed Tony's hands and was in the middle of cutting off the last rope binding his legs together. Gibbs clenched his jaw in anger as he took in Tony's battered appearance. Even in the gloom of the cabin, he could see the younger man wasn't doing well at all. _

While Kate continued to apply direct pressure onto the wound, Gibbs picked up the rope that he'd dropped in order to hold Tony down only moments ago, and with a piece of wood from the floor, fashioned a tourniquet above the injury on Tony's leg. Though his jaw tightened at the low moan of pain caused by his actions, Gibbs was nevertheless glad that Tony had remained unconscious during the rest of their ministrations.

When he'd finished bandaging the wound the best he could, Gibbs stood up and, moving quickly across the room, grabbed hold of the solitary chair. Dragging it back to where Tony was, he positioned it down on its side and proceeded to place both of Tony's ankles upon it, elevating his legs slightly. After turning Tony's head to one side to prevent him from choking upon his own vomit should he throw up, Gibbs then shrugged out of his jacket and covered the injured man with it.

"Loosen the pressure on the tourniquet every ten minutes," he instructed tersely. At her nod, Gibbs gave Kate a reassuring pat on the shoulder before returning to watch over their prisoner, taking the buck knife and the gun that he'd bagged with him.

Distant sirens caught Kate's attention and she let out a breath that she didn't know she was holding, watching mutely as Gibbs hauled Gatley up by the scruff of his shirt and pushed him out the door. Turning back to her fallen teammate, her slight elation dimmed considerably when she noticed that the cloth bandaging his wound was already soaked through, despite the pressure she was putting on it and the added tourniquet. Checking her watch for the umpteenth time, Kate was surprised to see that no more than fifteen minutes had passed since Gibbs had kicked open the wooden door – it'd felt more like hours to her, instead of the several tense, nerve-wrecking minutes that she'd rather not go through ever again.

"Tony? Don't you dare die – you hear me? Not like this…" she whispered, swallowing hard, wishing once again that she had her hands free so that she could smooth away his sweaty hair from his all-too-pale face. Right now, she would welcome whatever flirty or even snarky comments he was capable of making if only he would just open those green eyes of his and look at her. "Hold on, okay? You're going to be all right. Just hold on…"

* * *

A/N: Sorry for the minor delay. Took a while to liberate this chapter… :)   
In response to some of your feedback: SKRoberts – Thanks for the review and the encouraging pat on the back. :D Aenea – Heh. Sorry about your nerves. Glad that you're enjoying the story so far. warrior of the shadow – Good guess. You were close. Charmed-angel4 – Love your enthusiasm. :D Chianna – It's almost over. Thanks for the review! 


	9. Guilt

Disclaimer: NCIS and all related characters belong to CBS, Donald P. Bellisario and Belisaurius Productions.**

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Chapter Nine

He was unexpectedly assailed by a powerful sense of déjà vu as he stood before the hospital bed in the dimly lit room, too wound up to sit down at the moment, listening to the steady beep of the heart monitor, and the soft hum of the respiratory machine. Long fingers clenching slowly into tight fists, he was all too aware of the terrible, almost overwhelming anger that smoldered within him, knowing that the steady, gentle rise and fall of the patient's chest was the only thing tempering his equally burning need to go and hit something or someone. Was it just less than a month ago that the kid was lying there looking entirely too ashen and … frail?

Essentially colourless except for the bruises shading almost the entire right side of his face and the dark shadows under his eyes, and covered by what he felt was a whole mass of bandages, Tony once again appeared remarkably young and altogether terribly vulnerable as he lay there, so silent and still. With a sigh, he shoved his hands deep into his pockets, hiding the only visible evidence of the fury that raged within him.

"Jethro?"

Gibbs tensed for a moment at the call but relaxed when he recognised the familiar gruff voice. "Hello, Jack," he greeted the newcomer without turning his head. "We need to stop meeting like this."

Callaghan's mouth twisted into wry smile as he came to a stop beside the NCIS team leader. "Hey, don't look at me. It's the kid you've got to tell that bit of advice to."

"I will," Gibbs shot back in a voice devoid of any emotion whatsoever. "As soon as he wakes up."

His small smile fading, Jack studied the young man on the bed with worried eyes and shook his head with a sigh. "Déjà vu…"

"Funny…" Gibbs said blandly, one greying brow arching upwards. "I was just thinking that very same thing."

Jack shot his old friend a sideways glance and then shrugged. "Great minds... And I guess that's Tony for you." Crossing his arms across his chest, he asked quietly, "How is he?"

"Pretty much the same since we brought him in yesterday night." Gibbs ran a weary hand across the back of his neck. He took a deep breath and then let it all out in a soft whoosh. "According to the doctor, a lot depends on whether he makes it through the rest of this night."

Jack clasped a hand on the other man's shoulder, feeling the tension radiating from him. "He's a lot tougher than he looks, Jethro. Best of all, he's young and healthy. He'll make it."

Gibbs ducked his head in thought and then responded softly, "Yeah, that's what Ducky said too."

"There you go. Speaking of which, where are the rest of your people anyway?" Jack looked expectantly around the dark room, as if he was waiting for the rest of Gibbs' team to jump out of the shadows at any moment and join the two of them.

"Sent them home," came the succinct reply.

"Oh, yeah," Callaghan nodded once. He paused for a beat before commenting, "Sure you did."

Gibbs pondered the noncommittal reply for all of one second before turning suspiciously towards the older man. "Jack…?" When no reply came forth, he continued tightly, "They're still outside, aren't they?"

"Uh huh." Jack took one look at the thunderous expression on Gibbs' face and added hastily, "They're just worried, Jethro, and not only for the kid here."

It was Gibbs' turn to heave a resigned sigh. "I know," he said after a moment's silence, his anger already fading away. He sent his old friend a quick smile and said dryly, "So, they sent you in here to do the dirty work, huh?"

"Well, for one thing, you can't fire me, even if I did manage to piss you off…" Jack chuckled, stuffing his hands into his jeans pockets.

"No, but I could always shoot you…" The tone was light and hopeful.

"I don't think so. For one, you'll miss me… and my bar... way too much," Callaghan quickly shot back, grinning at the strangled laugh that he'd elicited from the other man. "Actually, no one sent me. I was on my way here when I passed the most morose group of people that I've ever seen down in the waiting room," he muttered, shaking his head at the memory. "That, and knowing you, Jethro, it doesn't really take a genius to figure out what was going on. Oh, by the way, in case I forgot to tell you – you do look like crap, Special Agent Gibbs."

Gibbs gave a snort at the last bit but didn't refute the statement. And he wasn't exactly surprised by the knowledge that the rest of his team had chosen to stay instead of going home. It was their way of showing him that no one was going to have to go through this alone. The doctor had already informed them that Tony would probably remain unconscious for the rest of the night, and despite convincing Tony's parents, who'd flown in earlier in the morning, to return to their hotel room for some rest, Gibbs somehow couldn't make himself do the same and leave the young agent's side.

Not just yet.

"We've been through all of this before, Jethro, but I'll say it again. You are in no way responsible for any of it, you know, not for Christopher Pochee's death or for what transpired with Anthony here," Ducky's quiet voice broke into the silence and Gibbs turned to his left to find the NCIS Medical Examiner standing beside him.

Faint shuffling sounds behind them announced to him Kate, Abby and McGee's presence and suddenly, Gibbs was grateful that they were all here, the blatant disregard of his earlier orders notwithstanding.

"I know, Duck, I know," he murmured bleakly, his eyes still on the unmoving figure on the bed. He continued, so softly that the men beside him had to strain their ears to catch his next few words, "But why does it feel like it is? Knowing sure doesn't make it any less difficult."

"No, it doesn't," Ducky agreed softly. "It rarely ever does, actually." That said, he turned to give Gibbs a critical once over. "But I highly doubt it would help young Anthony here if any of us, especially you, Jethro, were to collapse from over-exhaustion, would it now?"

In spite of himself, Gibbs had to smile at the unnecessary exaggeration but acknowledged the gentle chide with a nod. As he did so, somewhere deep within him, the guilt that had been sitting heavy upon his heart lifted a little and he heaved a small, almost inaudible sigh.

"Fine, Duck," Gibbs conceded reluctantly after a few seconds of silence. "**We'll** all go back … for some rest," he added quickly when Dr Mallard looked like he was about to say something else. Satisfied with his answer, the older man gave Gibbs a pleased nod, a benign smile lighting up his face.

Turning to his right, Gibbs frowned at his grinning friend. "All of us, Callaghan – that includes you."

The grin disappeared immediately. "Hey! But I just got here!" Jack protested with a frown of his own.

"You can visit him tomorrow along with the rest of us," Gibbs retorted all too readily, ignoring the rest of Jack's strangled objections as he unceremoniously herded him out of the room, leaving Ducky to follow at a more sedate pace.

Exchanging a smile, Kate, Abby and McGee proceeded to follow the three men down the hospital corridor. It was a quiet group that made their way out of the hospital, oblivious to the looks from curious hospital staff and visitors alike, each lost in their own thoughts and memories. They'd almost made it to the parking lot when Abby suddenly piped up, her voice shattering the quiet of the night, "Say, Gibbs… Does this mean we get to come into the office a little later tomorrow?"

"Abbs…"

"Hey, can't blame a girl for trying…"

O o O o O o O

"Gibbs…?"

"Kate."

"Well?"

Gibbs gritted his teeth and resisted the urge to bang his forehead against his desk, all the while silently berating himself for failing to pick up an extra cup of coffee this morning. He was expecting this sort of reaction, especially when the news got out … only not so soon, or more importantly, so damn early in the morning.

"Well, what, Kate?" he growled, soft and low, swallowing his frustration and hoping that she'd get the hint and not pursue this matter any further.

Unperturbed by his brusque tone, Kate leaned forward and leaned her arms on her desk, looking steadily back at him. "Aren't you going to do something about it?"

Before Gibbs could respond, he was distracted by Abby, who had just marched up to his table. "Gibbs!" she frowned down at him, hands on her hips. "Is it true? You're just gonna let Tony–"

"Abbs…" Gibbs began but was interrupted when the telephone on his desk rang. Trying to avoid the inevitable, he leaned over and picked it up, only to hear Ducky's clipped tone on the other end.

"Jethro, what's this I've just heard about young Anthony…?"

Pulling the receiver away from his ear and glaring at it, Gibbs motioned Kate and Abby closer with his free hand before speaking into the handset once more so that Ducky would be able to hear him. "I'm going to say this only once, people, so listen very carefully…"

O o O o O o O

"Yes, Ma," Tony answered patiently into the telephone for the tenth time since the call started. Seated on the edge of his bed, with the receiver cradled between one shoulder and his right ear, he used his free hands to sort through the many items he had scattered there as he continued the conversation. "I will remember to eat."

He listened for a moment, an expression of mild exasperation on his face, and then said soothingly, "Don't worry, okay? … Right, I know, that comes with being a mom… I will…Uh huh… yeah, okay. Say hi to Dad and rest for me… Yes, I'll call when I get back… Bye, Ma… I love you too."

Hanging up, Tony stared with obvious relief at the wall in front of him for a moment before he remembered that he had company. Getting awkwardly to his feet, he flashed his visitor a small apologetic smile before turning his attention back to the items on the bed, even as he mentally braced himself for the questions he knew that was coming. _One down, one to go…_

"So, where exactly are you headed off to?"

Damn, that was quick.

Tony's hands, essentially bandage free except for the narrow strips around his wrists and a Band-Aid on his left hand, stilled a moment at the deceptively mild query before he resumed his packing. Eyes down, he painstakingly avoided the pointed, questioning gaze of the older man – he wasn't ready to face it just yet. Leaning heavily on his cane, favouring his left side, Tony moved stiffly to the cupboard. After picking out a few more items of clothing that he needed, he then limped back to the bed, wincing at the twinge of pain in his healing ribs caused by the movement.

Once again, the young agent mentally cursed the speed of his recovery though a part of him knew that his expectations were completely irrational. After all, it had only been three days since his discharge from his twelve-day stay at the hospital and he knew that no one, least of all Gibbs, would expect him to jump right back in to work. There lay the irony of it – he wished he could do just that – for one thing, it would provide his life with some form of normalcy that seemed to be missing lately.

The physiotherapy sessions hurt, a heck of a lot more than he'd expected, and though the constant presence of his friends helped, he was more than a little frustrated to be still on mandatory leave due to his injuries. After trying not to go stir crazy from boredom for the past seventy-two hours and feeling considerably smothered by his friends' overt, albeit well-meaning, concern, Tony decided to use the time he'd been given to good use – it was, after all, his initial plan before it was so violently interrupted by Gatley. The difference was, he didn't have to request for some leave time, though he hadn't been very forthcoming with the details when he'd blithely informed the older man and the rest of his friends of his intention to leave DC for a couple of days.

Needless to say, Gibbs wasn't at all pleased with his vagueness as to where he was planning to go or do – which probably explained why his team leader was currently glowering at him from the doorway of his bedroom.

"Ohio," he answered after a moment, keeping his head down as he hastily stuffed everything he'd laid out on the mattress into the open bag.

"Columbus?" Gibbs guessed and saw the dark head bob once. "DCA?" he asked of the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and received another terse nod.

Tony cleared his throat at the quizzical look he received and added cautiously, "I … err … I need to pay an old friend a long overdue visit…"

"How are you planning to get to the airport?"

Tony shrugged, packing the last of his stuff and zipping up his bag. "Probably call a cab…" Looking up, he flashed Gibbs a grin. "Or you could drop me off, Boss."

"Sure." Picking up Tony's bag, Gibbs strode off with it, leaving the younger man blinking in surprise after him. "Let's go, DiNozzo," he called out when he realised that Tony was still frozen in wide-eyed confusion beside the bed where he'd left him. Turning away to hide his smile at the man's flabbergasted expression, Gibbs continued, "Traffic's pretty much a killer this time of the day."

One day, Tony told himself sternly as he stood there, scowling at Gibbs' retreating back, one day he was going to be one step ahead of that man, instead of lagging three paces behind. Hopefully, that day wasn't that far in the future. _Yeah, right, DiNozzo, keep on dreaming_, his inner voice chose that opportune moment to pipe up sarcastically and he grimaced.

"DiNozzo!"

Gibbs' impatient voice roused him from his thoughts and Tony scrubbed tiredly at his face with a resigned sigh. "Coming, Boss…" he called out before grabbing his jacket and cane. After looking around the bedroom one last time to make sure that he'd not missed out on anything else, the injured agent then limped out of the room, closing the door behind him.

O o O o O o O

"Ducky, do you think Gibbs managed to find out where Tony was planning on going?" Kate asked with a worried frown, her fingers fiddling absently with the papers on Ducky's desk. She flushed when he made a faint tsking noise and gently extracted the beleaguered sheet of paper from her hands. "Sorry…"

"No harm done, Caitlin," Dr Mallard smiled at the somewhat flustered agent, smoothing out the slightly crumpled paper first before tucking it safely back into one of the files on his desk. "And to answer your question, if anyone was capable of finding out Anthony's exact travel plans are, it would be Jethro. If not, there is always Abigail…"

"I know…" Kate sighed. She worried her bottom lip for a time and then blurted out, "It's just … should he be even making this trip? I mean, he just got out of the hospital three days ago and now he's off gallivanting to who knows where on some secret errand of his…"

Ducky nodded, understanding perfectly well where her concern was stemming from. For the past week, they'd all felt largely helpless as they watched Tony struggle, first with the high fever that he'd contracted due to the infection to his stab wound, and then with the painful process of recovery. The only consolation they'd garnered so far was that the situation could've been a lot worse than it was – although Gatley had nicked the femoral artery, he'd fortunately missed the bone and all the other major nerve and blood vessels.

The doctor had assured them that, the iron supplements that he had to take for the next few months or so due to the heavy blood loss that he'd suffered and physiotherapy sessions for his leg notwithstanding, Tony was well on his way to a full physical recovery. But that hadn't stopped any of them from worrying.

Actually, Ducky wouldn't be that all surprised if Tony was using this trip as an excuse to get away from them for a little while. It was no secret then that they have each been feeling rather protective of the young agent since his rescue over two weeks ago – in fact, Gibbs was the only one among them who'd successfully masked his concern – and Ducky could tell that the young man was feeling vastly overwhelmed by all the additional attention that he'd been getting from them of late.

Leaning across the table, the medical examiner gave Kate a paternal smile and a reassuring pat on the arm. "Oh, I wouldn't worry too much, Caitlin. I have a feeling that Anthony is in excellent hands."

O o O o O o O

"Err… Boss, what are you doing?" Tony asked uneasily as he eyed the black luggage bag that Gibbs had extracted from the trunk of the car. That was the third surprise of day, the second being Abby, who had been waiting cheerfully outside his apartment with her car to drive the both of them to the airport.

"What does it look like I'm doing?" Gibbs grunted as he lifted Tony's bag from the back seat. Bending down, he smiled at their driver. "Thanks, Abbs."

"Anytime, Gibbs," she grinned in reply. "Have a good trip, you two."

"Thanks, Abbs," Tony answered distractedly, still stunned by the revelation that Gibbs was following him to Ohio. Suddenly angry, he slammed his free hand down upon the roof of the car, stopping the forensics expert before she could drive off. "Abby! Hang on!"

"What is it?" she asked, peering up at him with a frown. "Tony?"

"Just… just wait here a minute okay? While I talk to Gibbs?" At her nod, Tony turned towards Gibbs with stormy green eyes. "Look, I appreciate the gesture, Boss," he began tightly, his knuckles practically white from the tight grip he had on his cane. Steadfastly, he ignored the looks he was getting from the people walking around them and waved an agitated hand towards the bags. "Or whatever this is that you're supposed to be doing. But if this is your way of telling me that I screwed up royally, **again**, you needn't worry, all right? I've already got that message, loud and clear."

Tony took another deep breath before plunging onwards. "And despite how things may look to you right now, Gibbs, I do **not** need a damned babysitter, not before and especially not for this trip!"

Gibbs' customary inscrutable expression told Tony nothing at all of what the older man might be thinking following his unexpected outburst. Vaguely aware of Abby's horrified gasp of 'Tony!' and her open-mouthed expression to his right, the young agent was, however, sure that he'd overstepped some sort of boundary with that last bit – he'd been too angry to care at that time.

But, as the flash of anger slowly dissipated, Tony began to suspect that he might have just destroyed whatever little friendship he'd ever had with the older man. A hard knot of regret and loss twisted within him, followed immediately by a slash of guilt, and Tony swallowed with some difficulty, mumbling past the tightness in his chest, "Listen, Gibbs, I'm sor–"

"I don't see any screw-ups here, do you?" Gibbs said, interrupting his apology in a voice so mild that Tony could only blink in surprised uncertainty at him. Ignoring the younger man's bemused look, Gibbs bent down and picked up the bags once more, slinging one over each shoulder. "And who said anything about babysitting? It just seemed like a good time as any to take a vacation – and I don't know about you, DiNozzo, but I haven't had one of those in quite a while."

"Hey, Gibbs?" Abby called out, effectively breaking the tension between the two men, while Tony stood there gaping at their team leader. However, there was a light in his green eyes, one that she hadn't seen for a quite a while and Abby's heart soared with hope that Tony was going to be fine after all.

"Don't forget to check out the haunted places in Columbus like Fort Hayes," she reminded their team leader with an impish smile when he turned towards her. "There's also the Kelton House, which I hear is haunted by the ghost of the granddaughter of the original house builder and–"

"Abby!" Gibbs broke in, an edge of impatience colouring his voice, although the sides of his lips twitched slightly. "Say goodbye to Tony now."

"Bye, Tony," she chirped obediently, adding with a cheeky grin, "Oh, and guys? Don't go around doing anything I wouldn't, especially whatever hinky stuff that…"

"Abbs…" Gibbs growled warningly.

"All right, all right… I'm going…!" After a final cheerful wave, the forensics specialist drove off, leaving both men at the entrance of the terminal.

"You coming?" Gibbs asked with a raised brow once the car was out of sight. "Or are you planning on taking the six-hour bus ride there?"

Puffing out a small breath, Tony began walking, allowing his relief and gratitude to show in his eyes as Gibbs slowed down his strides to keep pace with his slower steps. "Thanks, Boss," he said sincerely.

Astutely reading between the lines in that simple expression of gratitude, Gibbs clasped a warm hand over the back of Tony's neck and gave him a brief squeeze in reply. Letting go, he fought the urge to laugh out loud at the blatant surprise on the younger agent's face and said dryly, "Don't thank me just yet, DiNozzo, I'm still taking the window seat."

And as they made their way towards ticketing counters, Gibbs drank in the sound of Tony's soft chuckles.

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A/N: SKRoberts, ladc, Malinda, Angy, M/L Only, obaona, FreakAngel, Charmed-angel4, Darcy Foster, nikkinor, XxBandGeekxX, tinkoo and gotmilk – Thank you so much for the reviews. Final chapter will be up soon! :) 


	10. Closure

**Chapter Ten**

Tony fell asleep almost from the moment the plane took off from Washington, largely thanks to the medication he was still on, and slept deeply throughout the entire seventy-five minute flight. It was something that Gibbs was particularly grateful for. The young agent still had a lot of healing to do, and Gibbs aimed to make sure Tony got all the necessary rest that he needed, whether he liked it or not. Apart from the obvious reasons, Gibbs wasn't looking forward to facing an incensed Ducky should the younger man suffer a relapse during this unexpected trip of his, not to mention the combined wrath of Kate and Abby.

Arriving at the Port Columbus International Airport as scheduled, Gibbs collected their luggage and adeptly maneuvered a half-awake, and an uncharacteristically grumpy Tony out of the plane, the airport and into a rented car. By the time they'd left the airport grounds and were heading towards the city, however, the young man was almost fully alert and he looked about with deep-seated interest as familiar landscape whizzed past.

"DiNozzo?" Gibbs didn't miss the pensive look that had flashed upon Tony's face when they turned onto the interstate highway that led towards the heart of the city.

"Nothing, Boss, just some … old memories," Tony said quietly, dropping his gaze and looking away.

Opting to let matters rest for now, Gibbs didn't push any further, saying instead, "Care to share with me where we're heading? Or would you like me to drive around until we find something interesting to do?"

"What?" Tony turned back towards his team leader, a sheepish smile gracing his handsome features when he realised what Gibbs was asking. "Sorry, Boss. Err… Take the 315 North exit when you come to it…"

Giving an indistinct grunt at the rest of the directions, Gibbs watched through his peripheral vision as Tony pulled out his sunglasses and settled back into his seat. Even with the rest that he had on the flight here, DiNozzo still looked tired and wan, and although he tried hard to stay awake, it wasn't long before he fell into a light doze. Glancing periodically over towards the passenger's side, Gibbs could tell that this sleep was not a restful one, unlike the one he had on the plane.

Tony's brow was furrowed and his hands were clenched into fists, knuckles white. Alarmed by the low moan of distress that emerged from the sleeping man's mouth, Gibbs was just reaching over with his free hand to shake him awake when Tony suddenly jerked upright with a soft cry. Pulling off his sunglasses, the obviously shaken man scrubbed at his face with trembling hands, his breaths coming out in short puffs.

"You okay?"

Tony hesitated for a moment and then nodded at Gibbs' quiet question, his expression closed. "Yeah." Clearing his throat, he peered through the window for a moment with red-rimmed eyes and then slipped on his sunglasses again, hiding effectively behind the mirrored lenses. "Where are we, Boss?"

Accepting the change of topic without batting an eyelid, Gibbs answered, "Somewhere on North High Street."

"Oh." Tony blinked, surprised at the sudden detour. "Why?"

"'Cause I need coffee…" Gibbs glanced over at the younger agent, taking in his unhealthy pallor with a grim look. "And you need some food."

O o O o O o O

"C'mon, c'mon… pick up…" Abby coached, glaring at the telephone.

"Patience, Abigail," Ducky said mildly. "It has only just rung twice."

"Yeah, but Gibbs was supposed to call us when they arrive after five and it's closed to six already," Abby argued. "Then again–"

"Gibbs."

"Hey, Gibbs!" Flashing Ducky, Kate and McGee a delighted grin, the lab specialist leaned over the phone with both elbows on the desk and continued, "So, how's the Gateway State treating you two so far?"

"Fine," the answer came clearly through the speakerphone. "Anything that I should know? McGee?"

"Sir?" the young man asked automatically, nervously eyeing the phone as if he was expecting their team leader to pop out of the receiver at any moment and glare at him. "I–I m-mean… Y-Yes, Boss…?"

Kate grinned at the telltale pause. She could almost hear Gibbs roll his eyes on the other side of the line. "Everything's fine, Gibbs," she spoke up before the inevitable reprimand could materialise. "The Corporal Vance case? You were right about the second woman."

"He confessed?"

"Sang like a bird," Kate confirmed, her satisfaction at closing the murder case evident in her voice. Unconsciously, she leaned closer to the phone for her next question. "So how's Tony?"

"The usual… stubborn, pigheaded… Exhausted…" The answer was clipped, but Ducky frowned when he caught the slight tinge of concern running through it.

"Jethro?"

"He'll be fine, Ducky. Quit worrying. That goes for all of you. We'll be back in a couple of days."

"But Gibbs–" Abby started but sighed when the call was terminate before she could get her question out. She glanced up at her friends, a wry expression on her face and gave them a shrug.

"Don't worry, Abby," Kate said, giving the younger woman a consoling pat on one shoulder. "I'm sure you'll get a chance to ask Gibbs to get you a souvenir from the haunted mansion the next time you talk to him."

O o O o O o O

"Who was that? Kate?" Tony asked when he joined the older man at the table, looking totally worn out. Maneuvering around the tables and chairs on his way to and from the men's room with a cane in hand was a lot harder than he'd anticipated.

By right, rule one should read avoid strange, psychotic women with insanely jealous boyfriends just waiting to take out their anger on you, Tony thought acerbically, giving his aching limb a light rub. And if there was one thing he was absolutely sure of right now, it was that he'd no desire to get stabbed in the leg, or anywhere else, ever again. Not that it was of any importance, but whomever it was who said that getting stabbed hurt a lot less that being shot was obviously drugged out his mind when he made that particular statement because Tony certainly hadn't found the pain any different, or less excruciating, for that matter.

"Everyone," Gibbs answered glibly, taking another sip from his huge, steaming cup of coffee. He nudged the plate closer towards the other man. "Here."

"What's this?" Tony asked, looking at the unappetizing meal suspiciously.

"Dinner." Gibbs dug into his own plate. "Eat, DiNozzo."

Picking up the fork with some reluctance, Tony poked unenthusiastically at the serving of pasta in front of him. Maybe he should ask if he could pass on food for now – he'd apparently left his appetite back in DC.

"Say, Boss, do you think we could do this later–" he said, looking up in time to catch Gibbs' ominous expression. Swallowing the rest of his protest, Tony hurriedly turned his attention back towards his dinner with a grimace, muttering into it, "Okay then, maybe not…"

O o O o O o O

They were driving past a cemetery on their way to the hotel when Tony suddenly spoke up, "Boss? Could you turn in here please?"

Already half expecting the request by the time Tony voiced it out, Gibbs followed the directions given without a word. After their meal, or what could be called a meal – seeing that all Tony did was to rearrange the food around his plate while pretending to eat – the younger man had stopped at a flower vendor as they made their way to the car and bought a bunch of roses, mumbling something about already being somewhere in the vicinity and getting things over with.

By the time Gibbs stopped the car, Tony was almost lightheaded with a mixture of apprehension, grief and regret. He couldn't exactly remember the last time he was here – perhaps it was during the funeral – though he had a hazy recollection of him stumbling around drunk late one night not long after, yelling incoherently at the silent headstones, demanding answers that he never got. Getting awkwardly out of the car, Tony slowly made his way towards a plot on the far side of the cemetery grounds, gripping the flowers tightly with one hand and his walking cane with the other, vaguely aware that Gibbs was just right behind him.

Tony wasn't sure just how long he stood there, staring blindly down at the headstone, before things blurred and he realised that he was blinking back tears. A slight rustling sound to his right reminded him that he wasn't alone and he swallowed hard, swiping furiously at his eyes, suddenly embarrassed by his emotional display, especially in front of his team leader. He stole a quick peek at the other man, but Gibbs seemed content to just stand there beside him, a coffee cup in hand, seemingly lost in his own thoughts.

Turning back to the headstone, Tony once more allowed his eyes to run over the words engraved on the cold, hard stone:

**In Eternal Loving Memory of  
**William Garrick Kincaid  
May 15, 1972 – August 21, 1995  
Son, Brother and Friend  
Dearly Missed Each and Every Day by Those of Us You Left Behind

"Feel like talking 'bout it?"

Tony looked up at the question, his expression closed. "It's a long story."

Taking another sip of coffee from his cup, Gibbs lifted his shoulders noncommittally. "I'm on vacation."

The young agent stared at his boss for a moment, and then looked away without saying anything. Thinking that Tony had decided not to take him up on his offer, Gibbs turned back to his own ruminations, and was lost in a dark contemplation of the inequality of life when Tony started to speak, in a voice so low that he thought he was imagining it at first.

"I sometimes wondered if there existed a more unlikely pair with such a strong bond of friendship than the two of us," Tony murmured almost distractedly. He wasn't really sure why he was doing this – he hadn't spoken to anyone about what took place that fateful day, apart from the police psychologist that he had to see after the incident so many years ago – not even with his old partner – but somehow, talking to Gibbs seemed right.

Perhaps it was because, of all the people he knew, his gut told him that Gibbs would probably be the one to understand what took place best, or perhaps it was time that he shared the pain that he'd been carrying around for so long with someone before it eventually consumed him completely. Whatever the reason, Tony didn't want to examine it any deeper – he was simply glad for the older man's formidable yet steadying presence.

He took a shuddering breath and continued, his voice strengthening with each new word, "Will was working towards his PHD in Molecular Genetics at Ohio State while I was a rookie with the police department here, fresh eight months out of the academy – but somehow, despite all our apparent differences, we ended up great friends."

Watching as Tony bent down and replaced the dead flowers with the fresh bunch that he bought, Gibbs said nothing, willing to wait as long as it took for the other man to gather his thoughts as he shifted through his memories.

After another minute of contemplation, Tony continued softly, a small smile playing at his lips, "If anyone had told me when I was going to Ohio State that William Kincaid would one day be my best friend, I would've thought he'd lost his mind. We never hung out in the same circles and I don't think I knew that he existed until I met him one Saturday afternoon outside the … uh … library." The last word was almost lost in Tony's hurried speech but the other man caught it.

Gibbs almost choked on his next sip of coffee. "Library?" he asked incredulously between coughs, eyes wide.

Tony flushed and shot the older man an affronted look. "Hey! I do visit the library, you know. Sometimes… every… now and then…" he muttered under his breath.

The raised brow said it all and Tony turned even redder. "Yeah, well, okay… so I was trying to impress this really gorgeous girl, who just happened to help out in the library during the weekends."

Chuckling in response to the young agent's unrepentant grin, Gibbs shook his head in fond exasperation. Now that was the Tony he knew…

"I was waiting for her to show up at the library steps when I ended helping this tall, skinny guy pick up what seemed like a whole library of books, after some jerk who was walking by with his group of friends 'accidentally' tripped him," Tony went on, his expression all at once fierce, and it told Gibbs all he wanted to know about the younger man's sentiments towards bullies.

_"Tony DiNozzo." _

_"I'm Will Kincaid," the younger man introduced himself, shaking the proffered hand warmly. "Thanks for the help." _

_"Hey, no problem," Tony returned the smile as he reached over and picked up another book, adding it to the fast growing pile that he was already carrying. His brows furrowed slightly. "What are you planning to do with so many books anyway? Start your own library?" _

_Kincaid laughed. "Yeah, something like that." _

Clearing his throat, Tony glanced briefly at Gibbs before looking back at the headstone. "Anyway, to cut a long story short, we soon became close and started hanging out a lot together during whatever free time that we had. You know, for a geek," Tony grinned, his warm tone clearly indicating that being one wasn't exactly a bad thing to be if one just happened to be William Kincaid. "Will was, for lack of a better word, and at the risk of sounding like McGee… pretty darn cool."

A small smile tugged at Gibbs' mouth at the light in Tony's eyes. When the younger man became increasingly somber, he prompted softly, "Tony?" For a moment, Gibbs thought that he wasn't about to answer, watching as the other man's eyes grew distant, lost once more in his memories.

"One day, my partner and I answered a 10-8 – a breaking and entering in progress – and I caught the suspect just as he was sneaking out the back door." Tony shook his head and gave a hollow laugh. "The guy pleaded with us to set him free and when that didn't happen, he immediately swore payback. It seemed by arresting him, we had just wrecked his one chance of becoming part of a gang he was hoping to hook up with. It went without saying that we– I… never took any of his threats seriously…"

Gibbs felt a tinge of unease at the apparent despair in Tony's voice. As if the weight of the memory was too heavy for him to bear, Tony suddenly let go of the cane and sank to the ground with a weary sigh. Drawing his uninjured left knee up towards him and wrapping his arms around it, he stared silently at his injured thigh, lost in thought, glancing up only when Gibbs joined him on the ground. Swallowing hard, he gave Gibbs a wan smile and then turned to gaze broodingly at the headstone.

"I should have, but I didn't…" Tony reiterated, almost to himself, his tone low and harsh. Taking another deep breath, he continued after a few seconds, his voice a dull monotone. "After all, Patrick Delgado was just a kid… a damned sixteen-year-old kid…"

_"This isn't over, you hear me?" Delgado_ _snarled angrily as he was handcuffed and hauled away. "This isn't over…!" _

_"Well, I'll say one thing for you, DiNozzo," Jason Cartwright shook his head with a wry grin. "You sure know how to make friends…" _

_"Look who's talking," Tony shot back, grinning at his partner. "I'm not the one who got an earful from the Captain 'cause strippers kept showing up outside the precinct for an entire week a couple of months ago." _

_"Hey!" Jason protested with a laugh. "Can I help it if the girls wanted to show their appreciation for saving them from being robbed blind? 'Sides, I didn't hear you or any of the other guys complaining during the whole fiasco…"_

_"Have we ever turned down a good thing before?" Tony smirked, opening the car door and sliding into the driver's seat. "Though I don't think I've ever seen you, or the Cap, turn that shade of purple before, especially when one of the girls started to…" _

_"Tony?" _

_"Yeah?" _

_"Shut up." _

_"Sure, Jase, anything you say," Tony chuckled, eyes twinkling with glee. He turned an innocent look towards Cartwright, who stared back warily. "So, heard from any of the girls lately?" _

_"DiNozzo! Just drive already!" _

Tony shook his head, the slight smile that he'd been wearing at the memory quickly fading away. "What we hadn't counted on was Delgado's desire for vengeance. I don't exactly know how he did it, but when he got out, he managed to take both Jason and Will as hostages… and then demanded to speak to me, alone. When…" Tony paused and closed his eyes, a soft, humourless chuckle escaping his lips as he shook his head. "Man, I can't believe that it can still hurt this bad after all these years."

"Some things never do really go away, not completely," Gibbs offered somberly, understanding shading his voice. "Even with time."

"Yeah, I guess," Tony agreed with a sigh, his fingers idly exploring at the area around his healing wound. He looked up but his eyes were slightly unfocused, lost once more in his memories. "When I got into the room, Delgado was holding a gun in his hand, and the two men were on their knees in front of him, both bound and gagged."

_"So, Officer Smartmouth," Patrick Delgado spat out with pure hatred. "Which one of your friends here would you like me to kill first?" _

_"Please put the gun down, Patrick," Tony coached softly, his hands held out in front of him in a placating manner. "You don't want to do this…" _

_"Oh, but I do," the tall, wiry youth retorted coldly. "You, and your friggin' partner here…" he emphasised his point by tapping the butt of the weapon hard against the back of Jason's head, eliciting a pained grunt from the bound man, "…took away my one chance of joining the Red Jackets so I'm here to return the favour by taking one … or two of your friends away from you." _

_Tony took a calming breath, keeping his gaze fixed on the boy's face and his demeanour deliberately unthreatening. The last thing he needed to do was to set the guy off, not while he still had the gun clutched so tightly in his hand. Despite his relatively young age, Patrick Delgado was not new to being on the wrong side of the law – after the arrest, Tony had learnt that youth had been in and out of juvie since he was thirteen, and only his young age had kept him from doing some serious time._

_"Listen, Patrick," he tried again, taking another step closer. "Let them go, and you can take me instead…" _

_"**NO**, fool!" the younger man yelled, waving the gun wildly around. "**You** listen! I'm going to count to three and if you don't make the choice by then, I'm gonna make it for you!" _

"You didn't choose."

"No, I didn't," Tony confirmed bleakly, in a way glad that Gibbs knew him so well. It helped lessen the need for unnecessary explanations or questions that would've surfaced had it been anyone else. "I couldn't – there wasn't any way that I could've possibly made a choice between my best friend and my partner. So I continued to reason with Delgado, at the same time trying to maneuver him into a position so that one of the sharpshooters would have a clean shot. They eventually took him down but not before he fired once…"

The silence that fell after Tony had trailed off was almost deafening in contrast, and a few seconds went by before Gibbs spoke up, "Kill shot?"

Staring into space, the younger man shook his head and said quietly, "No, through the shoulder. Because of his age, Delgado escaped the death penalty. He's now serving twenty-five to life, without the possibility of parole." His mouth twisted into a bitter smile. "Lethal injection, life imprisonment…didn't make much of a difference to me. Will was still gone and nothing was ever gonna bring him back."

Gibbs gave a brusque nod, empathy flooding him at the unmistakable anguish in Tony's green eyes. He could definitely relate – he'd lost more friends than he cared to count, or remember – recalling all too well the sense of hopeless despair and heartache that had accompanied each time. It wasn't an experience he'd wish on anyone, let alone a friend.

"The trial didn't last too long but by the time it ended I was too numbed to care anymore." Tony took a deep breath and then hissed it out unevenly. "And once everything was all over, I guess kinda pushed the whole incident to the back of my mind and buried it away as deeply as I could…"

"But Gatley's attack brought it all up," Gibbs finished with uncanny insight, easily putting all the clues together. "Why?"

Tony shrugged, still steadfastly avoiding the piercing blue gaze. "If I had to guess, I'd say that it was because of what Gatley said that night – that it just doesn't pay to be my friend. It was Delgado's exact words before he casually blew Will's brains out, right in front of me. The guy didn't even blink. He just kept on smiling as he pulled the trigger… like it was some sort of sick game to him… " he finished almost inaudibly, closing his eyes and swallowing hard.

A single tear made its way jerkily down one cheek and Tony swiped it away with barely concealed anger and misery. When he opened his eyes again, however, the green depths were once again dull, clouded with a combination of grief and pain, both old and new.

Reaching out, Gibbs gave Tony a brief reassuring squeeze at the back of his neck but looked away, giving the younger man the much-needed moment to gather himself back together. The unexpected show of comfort and support almost undid Tony's already fragile hold over his emotions and he drew a shaky breath, fighting desperately for some measure of control.

"Thanks, Boss," he finally croaked out, keeping his head down. Embarrassment had tinted his pale cheeks with some colour and Tony cleared his throat self-consciously. "You know, all this time… I thought I'd gotten over Will's death…"

"You'd need to forgive yourself first to do that."

Tony glanced up at that, startled. "I–" He stopped, suddenly unsure of how to respond, a slight frown creasing his forehead. "That's weird… I always thought that I did…" he managed after a long moment, his expression pensive. Lost in thought, he wasn't prepared for the thwack in head by the older man and yelped in surprise.

"Ow!" Tony rubbed his head, turning huge green eyes back towards Gibbs in mystified confusion, his grief momentarily forgotten. "What was that for?!"

"Don't get me started, DiNozzo. But I'll settle for stupidity and misguided intentions for now," the senior agent grounded out. "Is that the reason why you've been avoiding the rest of the team? So that we won't get hurt?"

For the second time since they'd arrived at the cemetery, Tony flushed red. "It was a risk I wasn't willing to take." He grimaced. "I couldn't, not anymore, and especially not with any of you guys."

Gibbs shook his head. "It's not your call to make."

"But–"

"But nothing, DiNozzo," Gibbs interrupted with a glower, the finality of his tone telling Tony that it was futile to argue any further. "It's not your burden to bear and you damn well know it."

"I guess it was just an automatic response," the younger man offered in the end, looking downward, fingers nervously plucking at the short grass of the cemetery grounds.

"Is that what the nightmares were about?"

Going still, Tony stared at Gibbs for a moment, eyes wide and haunted, and then promptly broke eye contact. Since the incident, he'd tried his hardest to avoid ever getting close to anyone like he did with Will – never again would a friend pay the price for his mistakes. But that was before he joined NCIS. Somehow or other, somewhere along the way, he must have let his guard down because these people had slipped in and were now deeply ensconced in his life. It terrified him to no end, the way they'd each come to matter so much, and Tony genuinely wondered what he would actually do if any of them ever got hurt because of him.

"Tony?"

"Hmm?" Blinking at the soft call, Tony quickly buried his fears and turned his attention back to the conversation once more. "Yeah," he nodded slowly. "People die in front of me, just like Will, and I can't do a damned thing about it. They're not always clear… half the time I don't even know who those people were…"

Sliding Gibbs a quick sideways glance to gauge his reaction, Tony was both surprised and touched by the quiet understanding he saw in the other man's eyes. He immediately looked away, somehow feeling unworthy of it, his own eyes coming to rest once more on the headstone.

"But knowing the victims was a heck of lot worse, because then it would be Jack, or Abby, or Ducky… Most of the time though, it was either Kate…" the young agent paused, his eyes closing for a moment as he continued almost inaudibly, "…or you, Boss."

"How serious are they?" Gibbs asked, calling to mind the younger man's brief moment of distress in the car only a couple of hours ago.

Tony ran long fingers through his hair and shook his head, knowing precisely what Gibbs was referring to. "Used to feel like each time I closed my eyes, I'd wake up screaming not long after, but they're not as frequent now. The one in the car? That was the first in about a week, actually. With Gatley and his men off the streets and behind bars…" he shrugged, trailing off without finishing the rest of the sentence. He rubbed a tired hand over his face and sighed. "When the dreams… nightmares… first started, I thought that they were caused by the attack. But then, Will appeared that one time and suddenly, I knew."

Gibbs' mouth was a thin, grim line by the time Tony fell silent. The brutality of the senseless crime had shocked even him, and he couldn't begin to imagine how the whole incident must have affected Tony, who had just been a young rookie cop at the time. It certainly explained the cause behind Tony's several transfers till he joined NCIS – he never stayed longer than two years with a department before moving on. Knowing the whole story also helped to make clear the reasons behind Tony's withdrawal from the team and while Gibbs could relate as to why the young agent did it, approving of the decision was another thing altogether.

"We all know the risks when we took on this line of duty," the senior agent finally said, catching Tony's gaze and holding it. "What happened to Will Kincaid was tragic but you're not responsible – none of it was ever your fault. What you're trying to do…" Gibbs shook his head. "Pulling away is no guarantee that the people you care for won't be hurt in some other way."

Tony's mouth twisted into a smile, but it lacked its normal cheer or optimism, and looked largely out of place on his strained features. He was so naturally self-assured and buoyant that, on the rarest of occasions, Gibbs still found himself a little surprised and greatly disturbed by the younger man's moments of doubt and solemnity. Thankfully, these occasions were few and far between – for if it was one thing Gibbs hated, it was being caught off guard.

"I know, Boss. Or at least my head does." Tony bit into his bottom lip and frowned, eyes downcast. "I think I just need to convince the rest of me…"

"You could always let us help," Gibbs said lightly, returning the younger man's astounded look with a steady one of his own. He didn't need Ducky to tell him that support was one of, if not the most, essential part of the healing process, especially when it came to traumatic experiences."Isn't that what a team – what friends – are for?"

_"Thanks, man," Tony panted, taking huge gulps of air, trying to slow his racing heart. Almost plunging to his death was definitely not on his To Do list of things when the both of them had decided to do some climbing together last week. He shifted his body a little to the right and took a cautious peek over the edge of the cliff, a section of the broken rope still gripped tightly in one hand. That had been too close for comfort. If they hadn't been almost at the top when the rope gave way… _

_If Will hadn't reached down and grasped his hand when he did… _

_As if on command, his friend's tousled sandy blond head popped up next to his, and Will's hazel eyes widened slightly at the view. "Whoa… now that's a long way down." Kincaid turned towards his still shaken friend and gave him a brief, hard pat on the shoulder. "Hey, don't mention it, pard… isn't that what friends are for?" _

_Turning on his back, Tony couldn't help but to return the wide, infectious grin. "Well, what about not telling anyone about just now?" _

_Will laughed, the sound of it echoing loudly in the relatively silence of the canyon. "Now where would be the fun in that? 'Sides, if this doesn't make a great tale with the ladies, I don't what will." Lying on his back as well, the younger man spread his arms wide against the clear blue sky, emphasising his next set of words. "I can just see it now – dashing hero saves faithful sidekick from a horrifying death." _

_Faithful sidekick? Rolling his eyes, Tony snorted in mock disgust. "Dashing hero? You're so full of it, Kincaid." _

_"Now that's one thing you can't blame me for…" Will grinned cheekily. "I hang out with you, remember?" _

Now, as the ghost of the past laughter mingled intermittently with the present echoes of Gibbs' words, Tony felt the pressure that had been pressing upon his chest decreased somewhat and for the first time in more than a month, hope flared, strong and deep, within him. Funny, it had been so hard to open up about the whole thing in the first place but once he got past that seemingly impossible hurdle, it'd turned out to be a lot easier than he'd expected. As a matter of fact, he'd been quite surprised at how easy it was to share the past, painful though it was, with a friend.

Coming back to say a long overdue final goodbye to Will had been at once difficult, yet surprisingly cleansing at the same time. More importantly, it was a start towards healing an old wound and Tony was glad that he finally took the first step after so many years.

His initial anger at being unduly 'chaperoned', by his boss no less, might have been well justified at the very beginning, but Tony was also profoundly grateful for the older man's support throughout the entire trip. And the knowledge that there was a group of people who cared back in DC only served to lift his spirits even further. Perhaps, with a little help from his friends, he'd get through this after all.

"Yeah," the young agent finally answered, meeting Gibbs' even gaze with a weak smile. "I guess you're right, Boss."

One greying eyebrow arched upwards. "I'm always right."

Tony opened his mouth to argue but thought better of it when the eyebrow rose even higher and a glint of challenge appeared in those astute blue eyes. Just then, his stomach growled, abruptly reminding him that pretending to eat back at the pizza parlour just now wasn't such a good idea, though it may have seemed so at the time. Stealing a peek at Gibbs told him that the older man had heard it too and his face grew hot.

With some effort, Gibbs managed to squelch the grin that was just dying to come out at Tony's deeply chagrined look. "C'mon, DiNozzo," he said dryly as he stood up and brushed off the bits of the grass and ground that still clung to him. Reaching down, he pulled the healing agent to his feet and handed Tony his cane. "Let's get you something to eat before you pass out – think what that'll do to your reputation."

"Haha… That's very funny, Boss… Just downright hilarious…" Tony responded as he plucked a leaf off him and dropped it to the ground, his appalled expression illustrating all too clearly his opinion on that scenario.

"Yeah, I thought so too," the older agent deadpanned, reaching out with one hand and giving Tony a fond clasp on the shoulder. He indicated a nearby tree a few feet away. "Whenever you're ready…"

Tony nodded. "Thanks, Gibbs." Left alone, Tony turned back and gave the silent grave a last look. "Hey, Will," he began in a whisper. "Sorry it took me so long to do this. You know, if only you were here to meet the people I work with now…"

Standing at a discreet distance away, Gibbs drank the rest of his coffee while he enjoyed the beginning of what promised to be a spectacular sunset, glancing every so often at where his team member was finishing his goodbyes. It didn't take him very long, and when Tony finally limped over to rejoin him ten minutes later, Gibbs was pleased to see something else on the young agent's face other than grief or anguish.

"Ready?"

Tony nodded, feeling remarkably unburdened for the first time in weeks. "Yeah."

They were walking in companionable silence towards the car when Tony suddenly turned towards him, and in spite of the fading light, Gibbs caught the faintest glint of mischief in the young man's green eyes. It was a welcome sight – that integral part of Tony that had been missing for some time now, and Gibbs knew then that though it might take some time, Tony was going to be just fine. Eventually. The knowledge brought him a substantial measure of peace and relief even as he awaited the quip that he knew was coming.

"So, Boss… about that food…"

"What about it?" He didn't bother hiding the wary, suspicious tone in his voice although he suspected that it wouldn't have made much of a difference otherwise. The grin that he got in return was of pure innocence and told him all that he needed to know.

"Your treat?"

His response was immediate. "Don't push your luck, DiNozzo…"

"Right, Boss," Tony sent his team leader a look of mock hurt and then carried on as if he'd never spoken. "But, you see…"

Easily containing his own smile as the younger agent launched into yet another one of his spur-of-the-moment, but often exasperatingly mind-numbing comments, Gibbs savoured the moment with a lightened heart.

Yep, it certainly felt good to have his team whole again.

The End

* * *

A/N: Right, for starters, I guess in a way, it's a good thing that we're done, because the way the site Bermuda Triangled five reviews that were sent in for Chapter 9 totally sucked all the joy outta posting. If I didn't have copies sitting there in my mailbox, I would've thought that I'd imagined it all. How depressing is that? Anyway, to nebbyJ, SKRoberts, WBH21C, Malaskor and the-Bookworm-Princess, many thanks for your feedback. Sorry they disappeared though.  
Also, to all who've read and reviewed, especially the regulars: Thank you so very much for your company and for making this an utterly incredible and unforgettable writing experience. Hopefully, my muse will lead me this way again. Finally, to sHoT: You do know that you're the best, right? :D XOXO! 


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